Haunted Houses

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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.

There are more guests at table than the hosts

Invited; the illuminated hall

Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,

As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see

The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;

He but perceives what is; while unto me

All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;

Owners and occupants of earlier dates

From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,

And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit-world around this world of sense

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense

A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise

By opposite attractions and desires;

The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,

And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar

Of earthly wants and aspirations high,

Come from the influence of an unseen star

An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud

Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,

Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd

Into the realm of mystery and night,—

So from the world of spirits there descends

A bridge of light, connecting it with this,

O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,

Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

Paraphrase

Stanza 1:

All the houses where people have lived anytime and died there are haunted houses. Harmless ghosts glide silently on their visits, in these houses, through open doors. They have such feet that their footsteps make no sound on the floors.

Stanza 2:

We encounter them at doorways and on stairs. They come and go through hallways. They are like faint impressions in the air, They create a sense of to and from movement around us.

Stanza 3:

Actually, there are more beings at the table than those who were invited by the hosts. The illuminated hall is full of quiet, harmless ghosts, as silent as the pictures on the walls.

Stanza 4:

The visitor at my fireside cannot see the forms I see or hear the sounds I hear. He perceives only what is present, while I see all that has been, clearly and vividly.

Stanza 5:

We do not own our houses or lands by deeds; previous owners, long forgotten, still reach out from their graves, holding on to their old estates.

Stanza 6:

The spirit world surrounds our physical world like an atmosphere, sending a vital breath through the dense mists and vapors of our earthly existence.

Stanza 7:

Our lives are balanced by opposing attractions and desires—the struggle between the instinct for enjoyment and the nobler instinct to aspire.

Stanza 8:

These disturbances and constant conflicts between earthly desires and high aspirations are influenced by an unseen star, an undiscovered planet in our sky.

Stanza 9:

Just as the moon casts a bridge of light over the sea from a dark cloud, allowing our imaginations to wander into the realm of mystery and night,

Stanza 10:

So too, a bridge of light descends from the spirit world, connecting it with our world. Our thoughts wander over this unsteady bridge above the dark abyss.