The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Jonson, Ben. "To Penshurst." Seventeenth-Century British Poetry (Norton, 2006).

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number in which the quotation appears.

"To Penshurst" is a poem written in the country house genre, or a poem in which a speaker praises a patron through a description of their home. While "To Penshurst" is likely the most famous representative of the genre, Aemilia Lanye was the first to pioneer the country house style five years prior with the poem "Description of Cookham." Jonson writes of Penshurst, the ancestral family home belonging to the notable Sidney family. At the time of his writing, the house was occupied by Robert Sidney, the younger brother of Sir Philip Sidney, famous poet, warrior, and courtier.

The poem begins by acknowledging the ways Penshurst differs from other grand houses. The speaker paints a portrait of Penshurst as a practical, useful, and ancient house with a natural splendor that supersedes other homes "built to envious show" (1). The speaker asserts that figures from the pastoral tradition have made their own homes near the house, and that the surrounding landscape is replete with a rich history of art, literature, and creativity.

The speaker praises Penshurst for its farmland rife with animals that are happy to be slaughtered and served at meals. The trees are bursting with fresh fruits, and "the blushing apricot and woolly peach / Hang on thy walls, that every child may reach" (43-44). People in the surrounding town, the speaker says, are eager to come pay tribute to the lord and lady of the house, always bringing with them lavish gifts. At meal times, all guests are served equally and plentifully; even the serving staff is happily satisfied with the food provided to them below the dining room.

As a guest in the house, the speaker asserts, one wants for nothing, and it feels as though one is comfortably in their own house. He mentions a brief anecdote in which King James himself stayed at Penshurst and was pleased with the readiness of the house despite nobody living there at the time. The children who have been raised in the house, the speaker says, are well-versed in religion, war, and the arts, and can follow the example of their noble parents. As the poem concludes, the speaker compares Penshurst to other lavish houses once again, asserting that "their lords have built, but thy lord dwells" (102).