Poetry · Chapter
The Lost House explained
The narrator describes a sudden departure from a peaceful home to answer a worldly call, only to find the house vanished behind a chaotic veil of flies, bats, birds, and vapors.
What happens
The narrator describes a sudden departure from a peaceful home to answer a worldly call, only to find the house vanished behind a chaotic veil of flies, bats, birds, and vapors. In a moment of despair, a sudden sheen restores the vision of kneeling at the father's knee, sighing with joy and utter hope.
Themes in this chapter
Divine Fatherhood
The poem centers on the father-king and the act of kneeling at the father's knee, symbolizing a return to divine paternal care and peace.
Spiritual Struggle and Doubt
The narrator's frantic search for the lost house amid chaotic imagery and the question 'Was it a dream then?' reflects a struggle between faith and doubt.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Out of thy door I run to do the thing That calls upon me.”
I leave your house to fulfill a duty that summons me.
The narrator departs from a place of peace to answer an external call.
“I turn in haste to see thy blessed door, But, lo, a cloud of flies and bats and birds, And stalking vapours, and vague monster-herds Have risen and lighted, rushed and swollen between!”
I quickly look back for your blessed door, but a swarm of flies, bats, birds, vapors, and monstrous shapes have risen and crowded between us.
The home is obscured by chaotic and threatening imagery.
“I labour groaning. Comes a sudden sheen!— And I am kneeling at my father’s knee, Sighing with joy, and hoping utterly.”
I toil in anguish. Then a sudden radiance appears, and I find myself kneeling at my father's knee, sighing with joy and filled with complete hope.
A moment of divine illumination restores the narrator to a state of childlike faith and peace.