Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 31-36
It lies in Heaven, across the flood
Of ether, as a bridge.
Beneath, the tides of day and night
With flame and darkness ridge
The void, as low as where this earth
Spins like a fretful midge.
- Here we have more details about God's house. (This is starting to sound like a real estate listing.)
- It's built across a "flood/ Of ether" (31-32). "Ether" here refers to the immaterial substance of space. The house of God, then, is built (according to this simile) like a bridge over this substance.
- Did the speaker mention that this house is high up? It's so high that day and night pass below it. From here, the planet Earth looks like (simile alert) a "midge," or tiny insect.
- Folks, this is one high-up house.