"At Home" is Christina Rossetti's eerie tale of a ghost who discovers that all their loved ones have forgotten them. The ghostly speaker returns to haunt a "familiar room" where they once rejoiced in the company of the people they loved in life and is hurt to find that nobody seems to care that they're gone. Their friends' minds are on "to-day" and "to-morrow"; they spare not one thought for the "yesterday" when the speaker was still among them. The living, this poem suggests, might be pretty quick to forget the dead—perhaps because they don't much like the thought that they, too, will be among the dead some day. This poem first appeared in Rossetti's important 1862 collection Goblin Market and Other Poems.
|
Get
LitCharts
|
|
The Full Text of “At Home”
1When I was dead, my spirit turned
2To seek the much-frequented house:
3I passed the door, and saw my friends
4Feasting beneath green orange boughs;
5From hand to hand they pushed the wine,
6They sucked the pulp of plum and peach;
7They sang, they jested, and they laughed,
8For each was loved of each.
9I listened to their honest chat:
10Said one: "To-morrow we shall be
11Plod plod along the featureless sands,
12And coasting miles and miles of sea."
13Said one: "Before the turn of tide
14We will achieve the eyrie-seat."
15Said one: "To-morrow shall be like
16To-day, but much more sweet."
17"To-morrow," said they, strong with hope,
18And dwelt upon the pleasant way:
19"To-morrow," cried they one and all,
20While no one spoke of yesterday.
21Their life stood full at blessed noon;
22I, only I, had passed away:
23"To-morrow and to-day," they cried;
24I was of yesterday.
25I shivered comfortless, but cast
26No chill across the table-cloth;
27I all-forgotten shivered, sad
28To stay, and yet to part how loth:
29I passed from the familiar room,
30I who from love had passed away,
31Like the remembrance of a guest
32That tarrieth but a day.
The Full Text of “At Home”
1When I was dead, my spirit turned
2To seek the much-frequented house:
3I passed the door, and saw my friends
4Feasting beneath green orange boughs;
5From hand to hand they pushed the wine,
6They sucked the pulp of plum and peach;
7They sang, they jested, and they laughed,
8For each was loved of each.
9I listened to their honest chat:
10Said one: "To-morrow we shall be
11Plod plod along the featureless sands,
12And coasting miles and miles of sea."
13Said one: "Before the turn of tide
14We will achieve the eyrie-seat."
15Said one: "To-morrow shall be like
16To-day, but much more sweet."
17"To-morrow," said they, strong with hope,
18And dwelt upon the pleasant way:
19"To-morrow," cried they one and all,
20While no one spoke of yesterday.
21Their life stood full at blessed noon;
22I, only I, had passed away:
23"To-morrow and to-day," they cried;
24I was of yesterday.
25I shivered comfortless, but cast
26No chill across the table-cloth;
27I all-forgotten shivered, sad
28To stay, and yet to part how loth:
29I passed from the familiar room,
30I who from love had passed away,
31Like the remembrance of a guest
32That tarrieth but a day.
-
“At Home” Summary
-
-
“At Home” Themes
-
Mortality, Pleasure, and Denial
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
Anxiety, Isolation, and Exclusion
- See where this theme is active in the poem.
-
-
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. -
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." -
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. -
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.
-
-
“At Home” Symbols
-
Fruit and Fruit Trees
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
The Ghost
- See where this symbol appears in the poem.
-
-
“At Home” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Imagery
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Parallelism
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Repetition
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Alliteration
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
Allusion
- See where this poetic device appears in the poem.
-
-
“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
-
- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
-
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
-
Ask LitCharts AI:
The answer to your questions
Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
