{"id":"01KG8AJJ08EXJEEBMRPJDF29K1","cid":"bafkreiexopyjhef6eadddro3htccxp7ngiruhu3j7pz4hi6u72u2lspyma","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# THE HOUSE-TOP\n\n## Overview\n\"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.\n\n## Context\nThis 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.\n\n## Contents\nThe 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","label":"THE HOUSE-TOP","source_file":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","start_line":2710,"text":"THE HOUSE-TOP\r\n\r\n\r\nJuly, 1863\r\n_A Night Piece_\r\n\r\n\r\nNo sleep. The sultriness pervades the air\r\nAnd binds the brain—a dense oppression, such\r\nAs tawny tigers feel in matted shades,\r\nVexing their blood and making apt for ravage.\r\nBeneath the stars the roofy desert spreads\r\nVacant as Libya. All is hushed near by.\r\nYet fitfully from far breaks a mixed surf\r\nOf muffled sound, the Atheist roar of riot.\r\nYonder, where parching Sirius set in drought,\r\nBalefully glares red Arson—there—and there.\r\nThe Town is taken by its rats—ship-rats\r\nAnd rats of the wharves. All civil charms\r\nAnd priestly spells which late held hearts in awe—\r\nFear-bound, subjected to a better sway\r\nThan sway of self; these like a dream dissolve,\r\nAnd man rebounds whole aeons back in nature.\r\nHail to the low dull rumble, dull and dead,\r\nAnd ponderous drag that shakes the wall.\r\nWise Draco comes, deep in the midnight roll\r\nOf black artillery; he comes, though late;\r\nIn code corroborating Calvin’s creed\r\nAnd cynic tyrannies of honest kings;\r\nHe comes, nor parlies; and the Town, redeemed,\r\nGives thanks devout; nor, being thankful, heeds\r\nThe grimy slur on the Republic’s faith implied,\r\nWhich holds that Man is naturally good,\r\nAnd—more—is Nature’s Roman, never to be scourged.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"THE HOUSE-TOP"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H","peer_type":"poetry_collection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJJ09CTT0K4M25PZEFKRJ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJJ0DKHT9SG9X0RB5CAQX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:35.432Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.877Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}