Ghost House Analysis

A Boy's Will1915I dwell in a lonely house I know

That vanished many a summer ago,

And left no trace but the cellar walls,

And a cellar in which the daylight falls,

And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield

The woods come back to the mowing field;

The orchard tree has grown one copse

Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;

The footpath down to the well is healed.I dwell with a strangely aching heart

In that vanished abode there far apart

On that disused and forgotten road

That has no dust-bath now for the toad.

Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;The whippoorwill is coming to shout

And hush and cluck and flutter about:

I hear him begin far enough away

Full many a time to say his say

Before he arrives to say it out.It is under the small, dim, summer star.

I know not who these mute folk are

Who share the unlit place with me--

Those stones out under the low-limbed tree

Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,

Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,--

With none among them that ever sings,

And yet, in view of how many things,

As sweet companions as might be had.

.: Philip Yip :.

i noticed a really good use of Onomatopoeia in the poem. "And hush and cluck and flutter about" The sound of the word matches the sound of a bird taking off. Frost has a great understanding of using different figures of speech to catch attention for the readers.


| Posted on 2007-10-03 | by a guest

.: Analysis by Andrea, vn. :.


The enigmatic tone of this poem combined with constant detailed references to nature are very characteristic of Frost, though it is, despite of things, optimistic and pleasant. There are several reasons why this should not be so: to begin, the title "Ghost House" denotes emptiness, abandon and death. There is enough diction to argue that the mood of the poem is dark, such as "lonely", "ruined", "aching", "disused", "forgotten" and "sad". However, the narrator - seemingly a ghost just as his companions - appears to be somewhat at peace with his death, and expresses this in the way nature has prospered with his own disappearance.

The cellar, previously a dark place, is now filled with "daylight" and "purple-stemmed wild raspberries". The house, once used as a farm, is now being swallowed up by "the woods", which have returned to reclaim "the mowing field". The most valuable line to suggest the satisfaction at nature's rebirth (out of his own death) is "the footpath down to the well is healed"; a very positive description of the vegetation that has by now taken over the path.

The following two stanzas seem to be more negative about the narrator's loneliness, portrayed in his "strangely aching heart". The fact that he finds it "strange" to have a heart that aches can imply both that he is not alive and also that it may be aching for different reasons at once; both for the loss of his own life and the life that has sprung up around him.

Even at nighttime "the black bats tumble and dart"; nature's constant vivacity is in such sharp contrast with the narrator's own death, the "vanished abode" and "forgotten road" that it is almost painful. In addition, nature is personified, such as when the whippoorwill comes to "say his say". This repetition of the bird's ability to express itself is immediately contrasted with the "mute folk" that accompany the narrator in the house. They are ghosts just like him, and can no longer speak. All trace of them has been wiped out - such as their names engraved on "stones" that "the mosses mar".

The last stanza is melancholic as it reflects upon the sacrifice it took to allow nature another chance - the death of a couple in love. The line "with none among them that ever sings" again, contrasts to the song of the bird heard earlier. Yet the poem ends on a positive note: "in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had." They are no longer alive, but they are lucky to have each each other. Frost may be criticizing the world here, as "in view of" the destruction and lack of love for one another that humans display, an abandoned, overgrown house and only the dead for company may not be as frightful as it seems.

| Posted on 2006-02-12 | by Approved Guest

.: dsfg :.

And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:

| Posted on 2005-05-03 | by Approved Guest