The Haunted House
Felicia Dorothea Hemans
1793 to 1835
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
Easy Mode - Auto check enabled
All, from under deep sea-waves,
Rising, wandering, floating by,
Those bright looks have left no token;
Where the deep elm-shadows fall?
Wherefore, unto one alone,
Long ago,
Where their high tombs gleam the while;
Or the old and bannered aisle,
Hath the gift to hear their tone.
Whose lights are fled,
Save her memory of their mirth.
She is dwelling far away;
Dark and dread,
Faintly shining through bright hair;
Startling faces of the dead,
Listening for those whispers clear.
Pale, yet sweet,
Who treads alone
Still are murmuring round its hearth,
In the haunted chambers rest;
No strange gift of mystery lies!
But amidst another race.
On her soul, a baleful dower,
I seem like one
Sunny smiles were glancing round her,
Not one trace on all the earth,
She is lone where once she moved,
Or the flowers of foreign graves,
O'er yon low porch hang in showers?
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Fair, and happy, and beloved!
—Thomas Moore, "Oft, in the Stilly Night (Scotch Air)"
See'st thou where the woodbine-flowers
One quick heart and watchful ear,
And all but me departed.
Guests come thither, and depart,
When the night hath sealed all eyes,
All, all buried long ago!
Haunted still her place must be!
Wherefore hath that spell of power
Seeing what none else may see—
Whose garlands dead,
Now those silver chords are broken,
Tendrils of kind hearts had bound her;
Through their earthly home and place,
Dreams have gathered o'er her brow,
Voices that have left the earth
Some with young, smooth foreheads fair,
Ever there;—yet one alone
Oh! in those deep-seeing eyes,
Midst gay songs and children's play,
One alone unslumbering lies
Are those sounds and visions known?
Children, with sweet visions blessed,
Soft and low:
Some with reverend locks of snow—
Thus been shed?
Free of step, and light of heart;
See'st thou yon gray gleaming hall,
She is lone and lingering now,
One lone woman's entering tread
There still meet!
Suddenly and silently,