- description
- # THE HOUSE-TOP
## Overview
"THE HOUSE-TOP" is a chapter, likely a poem, extracted from the larger work [John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H). Dated July 1863, it is subtitled "A Night Piece" and spans lines 2710 to 2747 of its source text.
## Context
This chapter is part of the [John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H) collection, which is itself contained within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text for "THE HOUSE-TOP" was extracted from the file [john_marr_and_other_poems.txt](arke:01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4). It follows the chapter titled [STONEWALL JACKSON](arke:01KG8AJJ09CTT0K4M25PZEFKRJ) and precedes the chapter titled [CHATTANOOGA](arke:01KG8AJJ0DKHT9SG9X0RB5CAQX), suggesting a chronological or thematic arrangement of poems related to the American Civil War.
## Contents
The poem describes a stifling, sleepless night in July 1863, characterized by "sultriness" and a pervasive "dense oppression." It depicts a city in turmoil, with "muffled sound, the Atheist roar of riot" and "red Arson" glaring in the distance. The imagery evokes a sense of urban decay and social breakdown, with the city being "taken by its rats—ship-rats / And rats of the wharves." The poem concludes with the arrival of "Wise Draco," representing law and order, in the form of "black artillery," bringing a forceful end to the chaos and implying a critique of the idea that "Man is naturally good."
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:12.596Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- THE HOUSE-TOP
- end_line
- 2747
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 2710
- text
- THE HOUSE-TOP
July, 1863
_A Night Piece_
No sleep. The sultriness pervades the air
And binds the brain—a dense oppression, such
As tawny tigers feel in matted shades,
Vexing their blood and making apt for ravage.
Beneath the stars the roofy desert spreads
Vacant as Libya. All is hushed near by.
Yet fitfully from far breaks a mixed surf
Of muffled sound, the Atheist roar of riot.
Yonder, where parching Sirius set in drought,
Balefully glares red Arson—there—and there.
The Town is taken by its rats—ship-rats
And rats of the wharves. All civil charms
And priestly spells which late held hearts in awe—
Fear-bound, subjected to a better sway
Than sway of self; these like a dream dissolve,
And man rebounds whole aeons back in nature.
Hail to the low dull rumble, dull and dead,
And ponderous drag that shakes the wall.
Wise Draco comes, deep in the midnight roll
Of black artillery; he comes, though late;
In code corroborating Calvin’s creed
And cynic tyrannies of honest kings;
He comes, nor parlies; and the Town, redeemed,
Gives thanks devout; nor, being thankful, heeds
The grimy slur on the Republic’s faith implied,
Which holds that Man is naturally good,
And—more—is Nature’s Roman, never to be scourged.
- title
- THE HOUSE-TOP