“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Introduction

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“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Summary

“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Themes

• 

  Grandiosity vs. Humility

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• 

  The Elegance of Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)”

• Lines 1-4

  Within this sober frame expect
  Work of no foreign Architect,
  That unto caves the quarries drew,
  And forests did to pastures hew;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Who of his great design in pain
  Did for a model vault his brain,
  Whose columns should so high be rais’d
  To arch the brows that on them gaz’d.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-16

  Why should of all things man unrul’d
  Such unproportion’d dwellings build?
  The beasts are by their dens exprest,
  And birds contrive an equal nest;
  The low-roof’d tortoises do dwell
  In cases fit of tortoise-shell:
  No creature loves an empty space;
  Their bodies measure out their place.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-24

  But he, superfluously spread,
  Demands more room alive than dead;
  And in his hollow palace goes
  Where winds as he themselves may lose.
  What need of all this marble crust
  T’impark the wanton mote of dust,
  That thinks by breadth the world t’unite
  Though the first builders fail’d in height?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-32

  But all things are composed here
  Like nature, orderly and near:
  In which we the dimensions find
  Of what more sober age and mind,
  When larger sized men did stoop
  To enter at a narrow loop;
  As practicing, in doors so straight,
  To strain themselves through Heaven’s Gate.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-40

  And surely when the after age
  Shall hither come in pilgrimage,
  These sacred places to adore,
  By Vere and Fairfax trod before,
  Men will dispute how their extent
  Within such dwarfish confines went;
  And some will smile at this, as well
  As Romulus his bee-like cell.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 41-48

  Humility alone designs
  Those short but admirable lines,
  By which, ungirt and unconstrain’d,
  Things greater are in less contain’d.
  Let others vainly strive t’immure
  The circle in the quadrature!
  These holy mathematics can
  In ev’ry figure equal man.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 49-56

  Yet thus the laden house does sweat,
  And scarce endures the Master great,
  But where he comes the swelling hall
  Stirs, and the square grows spherical;
  More by his magnitude distress’d,
  Than he is by its straightness press’d;
  And too officiously it slights
  That in itself which him delights.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 57-64

  So honour better lowness bears,
  Than that unwonted greatness wears.
  Height with a certain grace does bend,
  But low things clownishly ascend.
  And yet what needs there here excuse,
  Where ev’ry thing does answer use?
  Where neatness nothing can condemn,
  Nor pride invent what to contemn?

  

  

  

  

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“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Symbols

• 

  Appleton House

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“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Analogy

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Sober frame
• Unto caves the quarries drew
• Forests did to pastures hew
• Did for a model vault his brain
• Unrul'd
• Unproportion'd
• Exprest
• Contrive
• Fit
• Superfluously
• T'impark
• Wanton
• The first builders
• Loop
• Straight
• Hither come in pilgrimage
• Vere and Fairfax
• Dispute
• Dwarfish confines
• Romulus
• Ungirt
• T'immure
• The circle in the quadrature
• Scarce
• The square grows spherical
• By its straightness press'd
• Too officiously
• Unwonted
• Ev’ry thing does answer use
• What

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Speaker

“Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)”

More “Upon Appleton House (Excerpt)” Resources

• External Resources

  • More Upon Appleton House — Learn about the afterlife (and decline) of Appleton House.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Marvell's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.

  • Marvell's Legacy — Learn more about Marvell's enduring influence in this review of a recent biography.

  • Portraits of Marvell — See images of Marvell himself (with skeptical expression and fabulous hair) via London's National Portrait Gallery.

  • More on Marvell — Visit the British Library's website to learn more about Marvell's life and times, and to see images of some of his manuscripts.

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