By the Fireside : the Open Window
By the Fireside : the Open Window - meaning Summary
Loss of Childhood Innocence
Longfellow's poem observes an old house where nursery windows stand open but the children are absent. The dog waits, birds sing, and light and shadow play, yet silence and sadness pervade. The absent children become memories heard only in dreams, and the narrator reacts with sudden intimacy, pressing a companion's hand. The poem registers loss of childhood, the passage of time, and a quiet, elegiac mourning for what is gone.
Read Complete AnalysesThe old house by the lindens Stood silent in the shade, And on the gravelled pathway The light and shadow played. I saw the nursery windows Wide open to the air; But the faces of the children, They were no longer there. The large Newfoundland house-dog Was standing by the door; He looked for his little playmates, Who would return no more. They walked not under the lindens, They played not in the hall; But shadow, and silence, and sadness Were hanging over all. The birds sang in the branches, With sweet, familiar tone; But the voices of the children Will be heard in dreams alone! And the boy that walked beside me, He could not understand Why closer in mine, ah! closer, I pressed his warm, soft hand!
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