I Years Had Been from Home,
I Years Had Been from Home, - meaning Summary
Fear of Returning Home
The poem depicts a speaker returning to a long-absent home but finding the threshold terrifying. Everyday elements—a door, windows, silence—become sources of anxiety, and the speaker retreats in shame and fear rather than re-enter. It conveys alienation from familiar places and an inwardized dread that immobilizes action. The final flight suggests avoidance and the persistence of inner terror over rational courage.
Read Complete AnalysesI years had been from home, And now, before the door, I dared not open, lest a face I never saw before Stare vacant into mine And ask my business there. My business,–just a life I left, Was such still dwelling there? I fumbled at my nerve, I scanned the windows near; The silence like an ocean rolled, And broke against my ear. I laughed a wooden laugh That I could fear a door, Who danger and the dead had faced, But never quaked before. I fitted to the latch My hand, with trembling care, Lest back the awful door should spring, And leave me standing there. I moved my fingers off As cautiously as glass, And held my ears, and like a thief Fled gasping from the house.
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