"Circle are praised, not that abound, In largeness, but the exactly round"
About this Quote
Perfection, Waller suggests, is less about scale than about finishing the job. The couplet turns a geometric truism into a social one: circles earn praise not because they sprawl, but because they close cleanly, with no wobble, no visible strain. In an age that loved order - in nature, in politics, in verse - “the exactly round” is a moral aesthetic. It’s a quiet rebuke to excess and showy ambition, the kind that equates greatness with bigness.
The line also flatters a certain kind of power. Waller wrote in a volatile 17th-century England where regimes rose and fell and reputations depended on poise. His poetry often courts the values of court culture: restraint, polish, control. “Abound / round” lands with that neat epigrammatic click that makes the point perform itself. The couplet is “exactly round” in miniature: balanced, finished, and self-contained.
Subtext: the admirable life is the one that doesn’t leak. Not the loudest, not the most expansive, but the most coherent. There’s also a defensive undertone. If you can’t be enormous, be exact; if history is messy, present yourself as unmessy. In that sense, Waller’s circle is an emblem of classical proportion and a survival strategy - a way of praising the kind of excellence that looks effortless because it has hidden its labor.
The line also flatters a certain kind of power. Waller wrote in a volatile 17th-century England where regimes rose and fell and reputations depended on poise. His poetry often courts the values of court culture: restraint, polish, control. “Abound / round” lands with that neat epigrammatic click that makes the point perform itself. The couplet is “exactly round” in miniature: balanced, finished, and self-contained.
Subtext: the admirable life is the one that doesn’t leak. Not the loudest, not the most expansive, but the most coherent. There’s also a defensive undertone. If you can’t be enormous, be exact; if history is messy, present yourself as unmessy. In that sense, Waller’s circle is an emblem of classical proportion and a survival strategy - a way of praising the kind of excellence that looks effortless because it has hidden its labor.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
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