In this poem, House, Occupation, and Paradise are clues to guide the answer, like an usher to a seat. The answer usher will give other words like Cedars, Roof, narrow Hands, more meaningful explanations.
I dwell in Possibility－1
A fairer House than Prose－
More numerous of Windows－
Superior－for Doors－
Of Chambers as the Cedars－5
Impregnable of Eye－
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky－
Of Visitors－the fairest－9
For Occupation－This－
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise－
A fairer House than Prose－
More numerous of Windows－
Superior－for Doors－
Of Chambers as the Cedars－5
Impregnable of Eye－
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky－
Of Visitors－the fairest－9
For Occupation－This－
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise－
(F.466/J.657)
[1] Possibility:: the chance (to gather tips).
[2] fairer House than Prose:: an opera house, not a theater for stage play. Fairer than Prose is also used to hint poetry.
[3-4] Windows, Superior, Doors:: a hint on a large building.
[5] Chambers:: small rooms in the upper floor of an opera house.
[6-8] Roof, Gambrels:: a description of an opera house.
[9] Visitors:: its audiences.
[10] Occupation:: the narrator is an usher who shows people to their seats.
[11] spreading wide my narrow Hands:: a hint on tips.
[12] gather:: a) to collect tips; b) to bring audiences to their galleries, an usher's job. Paradise:: something wonderful (tips to an usher). The gallery of a theatre (OED 7, 1873); it's recorded in OED 1873, but this usage appeared already in 1859. This poem was written around 1862.
There are five rows of boxes at the Moscow Opera-house, besides an amphitheatre, and a gallery, or "paradise," which occupies the whole of the top tier. ─ The National Magazine, Volumes 5-6 (1859)
