The Deserted House
The Deserted House - meaning Summary
Loss of Inward Presence
Tennyson’s short poem uses the image of an empty house to represent the loss of inner vitality. Life and Thought have departed together, leaving darkness, silence, and the visible “nakedness” of a once-lived place. The speaker urges withdrawal from earthly mirth because the house, made of earth, will return to ground. Yet the tone shifts to consolation: Life and Thought have gone to a distant, incorruptible city, suggesting spiritual continuity beyond decay.
Read Complete Analyses1 Life and Thought have gone away Side by side, Leaving door and windows wide: 2 All within is dark as night: In the windows is no light; And no murmur at the door, So frequent on its hinge before. 3 Close the door, the shutters close, Or thro’ the windows we shall see The nakedness and vacancy Of the dark deserted house. 4 Come away: no more of mirth Is here or merry-making sound. The house was builded of the earth, And shall fall again to ground. 5 Come away: for Life and Thought Here no longer dwell; But in a city glorious— A great and distant city—have bought A mansion incorruptible. Would they could have stayed with us!
First printed in 1830, omitted in all the editions till 1848 when it was restored. The poem is of course allegorical, and is very much in the vein of many poems in Anglo-Saxon poetry.
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