To Penshurst Essay Questions

How does “To Penshurst” characterize Sir Robert Sidney’s place in society?

In “To Penshurst,” Jonson emphasizes Sidney’s harmonious place within a hierarchical society. For early modern people, that society included everyone from God, to human beings, to animals and even plants and minerals. All these beings were arranged in one great “Chain of Being,” with those lower down in the hierarchy owing fealty to those above them. Jonson emphasizes that both Sidney’s animals, and his less wealthy neighbors, willingly pay homage to him—casting the lord’s powerful position in society is natural and inevitable.

Discuss the role of architecture in “To Penshurst.”

On its surface, we might see “To Penshurst” as hostile to architecture. The poem criticizes those who are obsessed with the appearance of their homes, and praises Sidney for instead prioritizing the quality of his land and his relationships with other members of his community. However, the poem itself is as carefully constructed as any building. It depicts Sidney’s land as carefully ordered by dividing into sections and stressing that everything is in its proper place. Even the lineation of the poem is mathematically determined. In a sense, then, Jonson adopts the architectural order missing from Penshurst itself, and imposes that order on both the landscape and the poem itself.