Haunted Houses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The speaker pictures houses as inhabited by harmless ghosts and perceives a past invisible to a visitor at the fireside. Reflecting on the pull between earthly desires and higher aspirations, the speaker likens the connection between the spirit world and the living to a trembling bridge of light.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Meditative Poetry, Supernatural · 420 words
First lines
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.
We meet them at the door-way, on the stair, / Along the passages they come and go, / Impalpable impressions on the air, / A sense of something moving to and fro.
Genres
- Meditative Poetry — Ten rhymed quatrains move from silent presences in houses to reflection on earthly desires, higher aspirations, and thoughts reaching toward the spirit world.
- Supernatural — Harmless ghosts pass through rooms, former occupants retain an imagined claim on their estates, and the spirit world surrounds everyday existence.
Tags
ghosts · memory · former occupants · spirit world · earthly desires · spiritual aspiration
What this Textopian page supports
Haunted Houses is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Meditative Poetry, Supernatural
- Length: 420 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Haunted Houses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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