“At Home” Introduction

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“At Home” Summary

“At Home” Themes

• 

  Mortality, Pleasure, and Denial

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• 

  Anxiety, Isolation, and Exclusion

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “At Home”

• Lines 1-8

  When I was dead, my spirit turned
  To seek the much-frequented house:
  I passed the door, and saw my friends
  Feasting beneath green orange boughs;
  From hand to hand they pushed the wine,
  They sucked the pulp of plum and peach;
  They sang, they jested, and they laughed,
  For each was loved of each.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-16

  I listened to their honest chat:
  Said one: "To-morrow we shall be
  Plod plod along the featureless sands,
  And coasting miles and miles of sea."
  Said one: "Before the turn of tide
  We will achieve the eyrie-seat."
  Said one: "To-morrow shall be like
  To-day, but much more sweet."

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-24

  "To-morrow," said they, strong with hope,
  And dwelt upon the pleasant way:
  "To-morrow," cried they one and all,
  While no one spoke of yesterday.
  Their life stood full at blessed noon;
  I, only I, had passed away:
  "To-morrow and to-day," they cried;
  I was of yesterday.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-32

  I shivered comfortless, but cast
  No chill across the table-cloth;
  I all-forgotten shivered, sad
  To stay, and yet to part how loth:
  I passed from the familiar room,
  I who from love had passed away,
  Like the remembrance of a guest
  That tarrieth but a day.

  

  

  

  

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“At Home” Symbols

• 

  Fruit and Fruit Trees

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• 

  The Ghost

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“At Home” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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“At Home” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Much-frequented
• Green orange boughs
• Jested
• Honest
• Plod
• Achieve
• Eyrie-seat
• Dwelt upon
• Loth
• Tarrieth

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “At Home”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“At Home” Speaker

“At Home” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “At Home”

More “At Home” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • Rossetti at the Victorian Web — Visit the Victorian Web to find a trove of Rossetti resources.

  • A Brief Biography — Read the Poetry Foundation's short biography of Rossetti to learn more about her life and work.

  • Portraits of Rossetti — Take a look at some portraits of Rossetti (including two made by her artist brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti).

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

  • A Birthday

  • An Apple Gathering

  • Babylon the Great

  • Cousin Kate

  • Echo

  • From the Antique

  • Good Friday

  • In an Artist's Studio

  • In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

  • Maude Clare

  • No, Thank You, John

  • Piteous my rhyme is

  • Remember

  • Shut Out

  • Sister Maude

  • Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

  • Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

  • Song (When I am dead, my dearest)

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret