Question

Read the following extract from H.W. Longfellow’s poem, ‘Haunted Houses' and answer the questions that follow:

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.

1. What makes the poet-narrator different from the stranger at his fireside?  [3]
2. What, according to the poet, turns a house into a ‘haunted’ house?  [3]
3. Where is one likely to meet the ‘phantoms’ in a haunted house?  [3]
4. What are the poet-narrator’s views on owning property?  [3]
5. How do the poet’s views of ghosts differ from the traditional perception of ghosts? How would you describe the mood that the poem evokes? Give ONE reason for your answer.  [4]

Answer 1

1. He can see and hear what others cannot see or hear. The stranger senses 'what is' (the present), while the narrator perceives everything that 'has been' (the past).
2. Haunted houses are believed to be haunted by the spirits of individuals who lived and died there.
3. In entrances, staircases, passageways, and hallways.
4. The living cannot claim ownership of their homes or property, nor can prior owners or inhabitants who are now deceased make a claim from beyond the grave.
5. Typically, ghosts are perceived as eerie, supernatural beings that manifest from the afterlife to interact with or haunt the living. Longfellow presents ghosts not as fearsome supernatural entities but as memories and past experiences that linger in the mind. The "ghosts" are metaphorical, representing the remnants of past lives and events that the poet can see and hear, even if they are invisible and silent to others.
   This mood is caused by Longfellow's focus on the past as something clear and visible to him, unlike to the stranger by the fireside.
   In conclusion, Longfellow redefines the concept of ghosts from spectral hauntings to a haunting by memories and the past, changing the way these elements interact with the present. The poem evokes a mood of quiet reflection, colored by the enduring presence of what has been.