A House Upon the Height
poem 399
A House Upon the Height - meaning Summary
Isolation and Unknowability
The poem describes an inaccessible, silent house that no traveler reached and whose windows observed sunrise and sunset while remaining empty. Its image functions as a meditation on absence, mystery, and the limits of knowledge: neighbors can only conjecture about the house’s fate because its occupant never spoke. The brevity and spare detail leave the central subject unknowable, inviting readers to focus on the tension between visible signs and hidden reality. The poem reflects a mood of solitude and the human impulse to speculate when direct testimony is withheld.
Read Complete AnalysesA House upon the Height That Wagon never reached No Dead, were ever carried down No Peddler’s Cart approached Whose Chimney never smoked Whose Windows Night and Morn Caught Sunrise first and Sunset last Then held an Empty Pane Whose fate Conjecture knew No other neighbor did And what it was we never lisped Because He never told
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