Haunted Houses Poem Summary, Theme, Critical Analysis by H.W. Longfellow
Haunted Houses Summary
The poem “Haunted Houses” written by H.W. Longfellow is a poem in which the poet begins with a very straightforward but rather very surprising statement.” All houses wherein men have lived and died/Are haunted houses.” Here we see how Longfellow had asserted that all the houses that men live and die are haunted houses. This line is comforting rather than threatening, a recognition of that those we have loved can still walk among us, so long as they live in our memories.
Here we also see how Longfellow describes the spirits or ghosts to be harmless that carry on their regular errands and as they move on the floor, they move silently because their feet make no sound. So the phantoms are the souls that actually linger in our memories.
The poet says that we meet them at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages but we can’t touch them but we can feel that something is moving to and fro. They are unnoticeable like air. Then the poet says that there are more guests than hosts in the house. Here the guests are referred to the inoffensive ghosts and the hosts are the living beings alive.
The hall of the house is being filled with ghosts who are inoffensive, harmless and quiet just like the pictures on the wall. Just as the pictures on the wall are harmless so also are the ghosts. The narrator of the poem says that he can see the forms of the spirits but the stranger at the fireside cannot see them.
Here the speaker is either a ghost for which he is able to see the spirits or else these spirits are in his mind haunting him. He can also hear their sound. The stranger can perceive what is in front of his eyes. But the speaker himself sees more number of ghosts, silently sitting there which the living people are unable to see.
The speaker says that they the have no ownerships of the houses and the lands now, which makes us believe that the speaker is a ghost. He says that “We have no title deeds.” They used to possess these houses and lands once but now they are in the graves.
They are all forgotten now by their descendants because they have to move on in their lives. But the ghosts have a deep connection with these things so they hold these things and occupy these places because once they possessed these houses and lands.
These spirits that make up another world surrounds the world of sense that is the world in which we live. It is surrounding the world of the living like the atmosphere.There are mists and vapours in the atmosphere also and they move gently through these like a vital breath of air beyond this world. The living beings can feel this.
Through this the poet wants to tell us that all our daily activities on the material plane occur within or beside, a medium of departed souls. So in the middle of the poem, we see that the original owners of the houses are still there but they have died.
The place where they live overlaps with ours, the spirit world that is on top of ours. The poet says that our lives are having the force of balance by opposite attractions or desires which is a law. Those who have the instinct to struggle can enjoy life and those who have noble instincts, they aspire.
All the worries, which we have in our lives, the troubles, the problems are like a ‘perpetual jar’ or a never ending jar. The poet compares a jar with our minds and bodies that are never satisfied and have got never-ending desires and wishes. All these come from the influence of an unseen star or an undiscovered planet.
The poet also says that as the moon comes out through the gates of dark clouds, the moonbeams that fall across the ocean waves look like a bridge of light that descends from the world of spirits to the earth that is the world of the living. During the night our thoughts, memories, aspirations that crowd us travel across and go into the kingdom of mystery through the moving or ‘trembling planks’ of this bridge of light.
Here the ethereal image of moonlight floating across the ocean waves is compared to glorious “bridge of light”. This bridge of light descends from the world of spirits to the earth. Our thoughts, memories and aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of this bridge to connect with the spirits of the loved ones who have gone before.
They also travel in order to rise above the “dark abyss” or dark cave of the materialistic world in which we live. At the end of the poem, the poet says that the ghosts come from a different world, and they can come and go as they please. But the spirit world is a mystery to us.
Haunted Houses About the Author H.W. Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on 27th February 1807 in Portland (United States). He was an American poet and educator. Longfellow attended private schools and the Portland Academy. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. He wrote and edited textbooks, translated poetry and prose, and wrote essays on French, Spanish and Italian literature.
He was offered a professorship at Harvard, with another opportunity to go abroad and he accepted it and set forth for Germany in 1835. Longfellow presided over Harvard’s modern- language program for 18 years and then left teaching in 1854.
Poems such as “Paul Revere’s Ride”, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie and a “A Psalm of Life” were his mainstays of primary and secondary curricula. At the age of thirty- two he published his first collection of poem, Voices of the Night, followed by Ballads and other Poems. Among his poems the best known poem is The Song of Hiawatha.
His work is mostly categorized as lyric poetry. He died on March 24, 1882. He achieved a level of national and international prominence previously unequalled in the literary history of the United States and is one of the few American writers honoured in the Poet’s Corner of Westminister Abbey-in fact, he is believed to be best the as his bust was installed there in 1884.
Haunted Houses Theme
The poem “Haunted Houses” by H.W. Longfellow is about ghosts and he says that ghosts are real and they do exist. But he eliminates the fears of ghosts by blurring the line between memory and supernatural. These ghosts are domesticated ghosts busy with errands, moving purposefully around the house as they did in life.
Haunted Houses Critical Analysis
In the poem “Haunted Houses” the poet H.W. Longfellow wants to say that all houses are haunted houses and in saying so he is aware of the nostalgia, history and memories that live in every home. Longfellow’s assertion that all houses are haunted is comforting and consoling rather than threatening. lt is just a recognition that the people who have died and whom once we ve loved can still remain among us, so long as they live in our memories.
We see that the poet begins the poem with a very straight forward but surprising statement. In his poem the speaker eliminates the typical ghostly requirements of suffering, unfinished business, or vitriolic purpose.
He says that every soul that has departed this earth, dawdles in his / her former dwelling (house). The images of the ghosts that Longfellow has painted in his poem are very different in nature from the usual ghostly nature. They are depicted as neither unhappy nor fearsome and neither moan nor clank.
So these are domesticated ghosts, busy with their chores, moving purposely around the house as they did when they were alive. The speaker describes them “harmless and inoffensive” and welcomes them to join him at table. They share our safe places and even join us in our daily activities. They are at the doorway, on the stair, along the passages and also by the fireside. They are always wafting, gliding and floating and thus connected to us for all time.
The poem assures us that rather than being hostile, ghosts are simply the remnants or vestiges of departed family members, our friends and our loved ones, exalted by memory and emotion-whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. In the next stanza, we learn that only the speaker can see and hear these phantoms what ‘has been’-which makes us question whether they exist only in his memory or he speaks himself to be a ghost for which he is able to see the spirits which the living beings are unable to see or hear.
Then we find how the speaker admits his belief in the supernatural in this line “The spirit world around this world of sense / Floats like an atmosphere.” This mood of mystery and spirituality is confirmed in the final two stanzas.
The line “We have no title deeds to house or lands” also suggests that the speaker is a ghost. The owners, the occupants of the houses and lands are dead so they do not possess these properties any more.” From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands” is a metaphor which the poet uses here to mean that the dead still have a strong connection with their possessions.
The spirit world that encircles the real world is extremely silent. The spirits pass through the mists and vapours, like a vital breath of air beyond the world. It means that all our day to day activities occur within or beside a medium of departed souls. Our lives have the force of balance by opposite attractions and desires which is the nature of law.
It is human nature to get attracted towards numerous desires. People who have an instinct to struggle,enjoy the life and those who have noble instincts rise high in their lives. The poet describes the unending anxiety, wants, desires and aspirations are like a perpetual jar. The unending jar is a symbol of our wants, desires, anxieties, aspirations which come from the influence of an unseen star or undiscovered planet.
The poet says that the ethereal image of moonlight floating across the ocean waves is compared to a glorious “bridge of light” that descends from the world of spirits to the earth. And our thoughts, memories and aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of the bridge to connect with the spirits of the loved ones who have departed before.
These memories and aspirations rise above the dark cave of the materialistic world. Longfellow captures the way that moonlight “sways and bends” on the water to create an “unsteady floor” of this bridge that only spirits can cross. It is impossible for any bodily living being to cross this bridge.
So after going through the poem we can say that as we move through life, gaining in wisdom and experience, we are haunted by the ghosts of our former selves both for better and for worse. We are connected with the spirits of the different eras of our existence by bridges of light, drawing occasionally on our youth and innocence but drawing too often on the past pain and grief. “All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses.” With the body as our home,the different memories and thoughts of past and present are the spirits of the haunted houses.
The poem has got the title of “Haunted Houses.” The poet introduces the presence of ghosts and spirits from the very beginning of the poem. In the haunted houses, we can find ghosts and spirits but actually the spirits that are described by the poet in this poem are domesticated ghosts. They are not poltergeists and hence they are harmless.
The first line of the first stanza says that all houses are haunted where men lived and departed. The spirits and ghosts in the haunted houses just go about and don’t bother or disturb anyone. They come into the houses through the open doors and move silently on the floors without making any noise. They are “harmless phantoms” and they are busy with their activities moving here and there around the houses, as they did when they were alive.
The poet dispels the typical ghostly prerequisite of suffering, unfinished business or malicious intent. From this sense we can say that the poem bearing the title “Haunted Houses” is preferable. Though the ghosts do not possess any ghostly behavious, yet due to the presence of these ghosts and spirits in the houses one can call the houses haunted.
As we move along the poem, we see that how the poet can see and hear these phantoms -what “has been” makes us question whether they exist only in his memory. Yet now, having lulled us into a feeling of rational safety, the poet at last guides us into the belief of mysticism and other worldliness that is the world of spirits. The poet describes their movements in the houses through the words glide and waft. They are present every where at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages which can only be felt.
Due to their “impalpable impressions” on the air, the speaker senses that something move to and fro. They also crowd along, in the hall, but they are inoffensive and silent as the pictures on the wall. While the others are unable to see themor hear them, the forms are visible to the poet and he can hear them. They encircle the world of the living like the atmosphere.
They waft through these earthly mists and vapours like an important or vital breath which is more ethereal or unearthly. Till here in the poem, we can see how the poet Longfellow tries to say that in our materialistic world, the spirits wander about doing their own activities without pestering others. From this sense we can say that the title” Haunted Houses”goes well.
All these while the ghosts and the spirits were confined to the different places of the houses. We also find how the poet describes them to be the earlier owners and occupants of the houses, who have died and are in graves now. But still they have a strong connection with their houses. So after their death, when everyone has forgotten them, we find them stretching “their dusty hands” from the graves to hold in “mortmain still their old estates.”
Again at the end of the poem, we find how Longfellow describes the connection between the world of spirit and the world of the living. He says that the moonlight makes a floating “bridge of light” across the waves of the sea. Our fancies-aspirations, thoughts and desires crowd across the planks of this bridge which find their way and go into the world of mystery and night that is the world of the spirits. It is this bridge that connects the two worlds-the world of the living and the world of the spirits.
The ghosts and the spirits are just remnants of the departed family members and beloveds whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. They haunt our memories. We can also compare ourselves with houses where we are always haunted by our dear and near ones who have passed away. Their memories are always haunting us even after their death. So if we take the title, from this view or this point, we can say that “Haunted Houses” is quite a suitable title.
Haunted Houses Title of the Story
The poem has got the title of “Haunted Houses.” The poet introduces the presence of ghosts and spirits from the very beginning of the poem. In the haunted houses, we cark find ghosts and spirits but actually the spirits that are described by the poet in this poem are domesticated ghosts. They are not poltergeists and hence they are harmless.
The first line of the first stanza says that all houses are haunted where men lived and departed. The spirits and ghosts in the haunted houses just go about and don’t bother or disturb anyone. They come into the houses through the open doors and move silently on the floors without making any noise.
They are “harmless phantoms” and they are busy with their activities moving here and there around the houses, as they did when they were alive. The poet dispels the typical ghostly prerequisite of suffering, unfinished business or malicious intent. From this sense we can say that the poem bearing the title “Haunted Houses” is preferable.
Though the ghosts do not possess any ghostly behavious, yet due to the presence of these ghosts and spirits in the houses one can call the houses haunted. As we move along the poem, we see that how the poet can see and hear these phantoms what “has been” makes us question whether they exist only in his memory. Yet now, having lulled us into a feeling of rational safety, the poet at last guides us into the belief of mysticism and other worldliness that is the world of spirits.
The poet describes their movements in the houses through the words glide and waft. They are present everywhere at the door-way, on the stair, along the passages which can only be felt. Due to their “impalpable impressions” on the air, the speaker senses that something move to and fro. They also crowd along, in the hall, but they are inoffensive and silent as the pictures on the wall. While the others are unable to see them or hear them, the forms are visible to the poet and he can hear them.
They encircle the world of the living like the atmosphere. They waft through these earthly mists and vapours like an important or vital breath which is more ethereal or unearthly. Till here in the poem, we can see how the poet Longfellow tries to say that in our materialistic world, the spirits wander about doing their own activities without pestering others. From this sense we can say that the title” Haunted Houses” goes well.
All these while the ghosts and the spirits were confined to the different places of the houses. We also find how the poet describes them to be the earlier owners and occupants of the houses, who have died and are in graves now. But still they have a strong connection with their houses. So after their death, when everyone has forgotten them, we find them stretching “their dusty hands” from the graves to hold in “mortmain still their old estates.”
Again at the end of the poem, we find how Longfellow describes the connection between the world of spirit and the world of the living. He says that the moonlight makes a floating “bridge of light” across the waves of the sea. Our fancies-aspirations, thoughts and desires crowd across the planks of this bridge which find their way and go into the world of mystery and night that is the world of the spirits. It is this bridge that connects the two worlds-the world of the living and the world of the spirits.
The ghosts and the spirits are just remnants of the departed family members and beloveds whom we are glad to have still with us in whatever form they are in. They haunt our memories. We can also compare ourselves with houses where we are always haunted by our dear and near ones who have passed away. Their memories are always haunting us even after their death. So if we take the title, from this view or this point, we can say that “Haunted Houses” is quite a suitable title.
Haunted Houses About The Poem
The poem “Haunted Houses” by H.W. Longfellow is a very captivating poem which deals with the connection between the spiritual world of ghosts and the present world of the living creatures. This is a poem of spirits and ghosts. Maybe through this poem the poet tried to convey that the ghosts who linger in the haunted houses symbolize the lives of those who had lived and their spirits remained for some reason or the other, maybe as reminders of our past.
The poem speaks about the “the bridge of light” that descends in order to connect to our living world. The spirits of H.W Longfellow’s poems are the souls who linger in our memories and therefore, in our houses who are neither mischievous poltergeists nor angry spirits intending to harm the people-living in the present world.
Haunted Houses Main Point Of The Poem
The poem “Haunted Houses” of H.W. Longfellow is a consoling and sentimental meditation on the transcience of the material and the permanence of the spiritual. In other words every livings beings who exist in the materialistic world are just temporary. When they die, their spirits go to another world. The spirits don’t die anymore, They are permanent.
The way the poet talks about the presence of the spirits in the houses, also shows that the poet wants to convey us that our loved ones always remain with us, in our thoughts and memories. Their presence doesn’t decline even long after they are gone from this physical plane.
Haunted Houses Linewise Summary
1. All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
H.W. Longfellow the poet, of the poem “Haunted Houses” describes the presence of the phantoms in the houses. They are the souls and spirits who were living beings once but after their death, they have become spirits now. So the poet says that all the houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses. They are not poltergeists.
They are described as harmless ghosts who came through the open doors with soundless feet upon the floors and are busy with their regular errands. Longfellow’s ghosts are very different from the ghoulies and ghosties of popular imagination. They are neither unhappy nor harmful and they neither groan nor clank.
2. We meet them at the door way on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
Asense of something moving to and fro.
The ghosts or the spirits are found on the stair, at the door-ways, in the table and everywhere in the houses. They wander along the passages of the house with impalpable impressions on the air. They are unnoticeable but their presence can be felt. A sense of something moving to and fro can be felt. So these ghosts can be said to be domesticated ghosts who are found in the houses.
3. There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The speaker says that there are more guests than the hosts. The illuminated hall is filled up with quiet and inoffensive ghosts and they are silent as pictures on the wall. Here the speaker refers the guests invited to the ghosts or the spirits which are more in number than the living beings alive in the house (that are the hosts.) They are so silent that they are compared to the pictures on the wall whose presence is not detected because they make no sound.
4. The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear die sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
In these lines the speaker says how the stranger sitting at the fireside is unable to see or hear the ghosts but the forms which the speaker himself can see or hear. Here ‘forms’ means the ghosts or the spirits. The stranger only perceives what is in front of him. The ghosts are clearly visible only to the speaker. From this we can derive that either the speaker is a ghost himself or his memory is haunted by the thoughts of these spirits, who are actually the spirits of his family members and loved ones.
5. We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
Here the speaker says that they have no title deeds to houses or lands. The actual or original owners or occupants of these houses were alive but are now dead and are in graves whom no one in the earth has remembered as everyone is engaged in work. These actual owners or occupants still have a connection with their possessions. So inspite of being ghosts or spirits now, they stretch out their hands to hold in “mortmain” of their old estates with which they are still connected to.
6. The sprit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmophere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapoursdem
A vital breath of more ethereal air.
In this stanza the speaker speaks of the world of the supernatural or the spirit world which surrounds our world of material or the world of living. They are everywhere in the world of living and encircle us like the pall of atmosphere. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of mists and vapours. The spirits waft through the dense mists and vapours like a vital breath. Since they are unearthly and belong to ethereal air they waft through the dense mists and vapours in the atmosphere.
7. Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
In this stanza, the poet says that our lives are always kept in a balance of force by opposite attractions and desires. This is the law or nature of the humans to get attracted towards various desires. The people who have the instincts to struggle, enjoy lives and those people with noble instincts can aspire high or in other words people who have an instinct to struggle, a willingness to live life as it comes, they enjoy the struggle as well as the life. People with noble instincts rise high in their lives.
8. These perturbations, perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star,
An undiscovered planet in our sky.
The poet has described the anxieties, worries, aspirations, desires which are all unending-to a perpetual jar. The wants and high aspirations of the people of the earth are perpetual. They don’t end so they are like a perpetual or unending jar. These earthly wants and high aspirations come from the influence of maybe a star which is yet unseen or a planet which has not been discovered yet.
9. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night, —
The speaker connects the two worlds-the world of the spirits and the world of the living through a “bridge of light”. He has given a very beautiful description of how the bridge is made. He says that as the moon comes out from some dark gate of clouds, it throws its beams or light over the water of the sea, thus making a floating bridge of light.
All our fancies-thoughts, desires, aspirations etc crowd along the “bridge of light.” These fancies travel across the “trembling planks” of the bridge into the kingdom of mystery and night. The planks are described as trembling because this bridge is made by the moonlight on the water. So through this bridge our fancies travel into the world of spirits.
10. So from the world spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
The poet here says that the bridge of light descends from the world of spirit to the world of living or earth. This bridge connects the two worlds. The unsteady floor of this bridge sways and bends because the moonlight falling on the waves of the water, ripples and shakes. Our thoughts, memories and aspirations are connected with the spirits of the loved ones who are dead long before. All these rise above the dark cave of this materialistic world, and go into the world of spirits.
Haunted Houses Linewise Explanation
1. All houses wherein men have lived and died Are haunted houses.
Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
All the houses where men have lived and died are haunted houses. Every soul that departed the earth remains in his / her former house. The ghosts or the spirits are all described as harmless and they come through the open doors and glide silently upon the floors while they do their regular chores.
2. We meet them at the door way on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
Asense of something moving to and fro.
We meet the ghosts at the doorway, on the stair and along the passages. So they move along the passages so silently that they leave an impalpable impression on the air. They cannot be noticed or touched or heard. They can only be felt that is one can feel something moving to and fro in the air.
3. There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The poet in this stanza says that there are more guests invited than the hosts. The guests here are ghosts or spirits and the hosts are the living beings. The illuminated hall is filled up with inoffensive harmless ghosts who are as silent as the pictures on the wall.
4. The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
In this stanza the poet makes us believe that the speaker himself is a ghost. So he says that the stranger sitting at the fireside is unable to see the ghost (forms) and hear the sounds which the speaker could see or hear. All that hash been visible and clear to the speaker couldn’t be seen or heard by the stranger who could only perceive them or may be the spirits exist in the poet’s memory.
5. We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
Here the poet says that they have no title deeds to their houses or lands. The actual owners and the occupants are dead and are forgotten. But they have something that connects them to their possessions or property. So though they are dead, they stretch their hands from the graves to hold in mortmain or the permenent ownership of their old estates or properties.
6. The sprit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.
The poet says that the world of spirit surrounds the world of the living and is extremely silent. The spirits gently pass through the mists and vapours in the air like a vital breath of air beyond the world of the living.
7. Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
In these lines, the poet says that our lives have the force of balance by opposite attractions and desires. It is the human nature to get attracted towards numerous desires. People who have an instinct to struggle, they can enjoy life. People with noble instints rise high in their lives.
8. These perturbations, perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star,
An undiscovered planet in our sky.
The poet says that our perturbations that is our anxiety, our mental uneasiness are like a “perpetual jar.” The perpetual jar is the unending jar of anxiety, wants, desires and aspirations. These come from the influence of an unseen star or a planet which is yet not discovered.
9. And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,—
The poet says that the moon seems to come out through the dark gate of cloud. The moon light that floats across the ocean waves become “a bridge of light.” Our thoughts, memories, aspirations can travel across the “trembling planks” of this bridge into the world of mystery and night.
10. So from the world spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
The poet says that this bridge of light descends from the “world of spirits” and connects the world of living. It is the connection, with the spirits of the loved ones who have gone before and it is also for us to rise above the dark cave of the materialistic world in which we live.
Haunted Houses Annotations and Vocabulary
Phantoms — ghosts ;spirits
Errands — regular chores;tasks
Impalpable — incorporeal ;intangible
Illuminated — lit with bright lights
Thronged — filled or be present in; crowded
Inpiffensive — harmless;not objectionable
Title deeds — real estate documents of ownership of properties.
Occupants — residents; inhabitants
Mortmain — permanent ownership
Equipoise — balance; equality
Instinct — an innate typically fixed pattern of behaviour in animals in response to certain stimuli.
Perturbations — mental uneasiness; anxieties
Perpetual — unending; everlasting
Undiscovered — that has not been discovered yet
Trembling — shaking or moving
Wafts — passes gently through the air Fancies desires
Realm — empire;kingdom
Abyss — a gap or a hole
Ethereal — unearthly.
