The poem
Life and Thought have gone away Side by side, Leaving door and windows wide. Careless tenants they!
All within is dark as night: In the windows is no light; And no murmur at the door, So frequent on its hinge before.
Close the door; the shutters close; Or through the windows we shall see The nakedness and vacancy Of the dark deserted house.
Come away: no more of mirth Is here or merry-making sound. The house was builded of the earth, And shall fall again to ground.
Come away: for Life and Thought Here no longer dwell; But in a city glorious - A great and distant city -have bought A mansion incorruptible. Would they could have stayed with us!
I don't know about you, but this poem does seem to represent life on earth. The house refers to the body of a person and in the 3rd stanza we ee that the body is made of earth and it will end up there when we die. It has now lives in the mansion incorruptible which portrays the glorified body one receives in heaven.
I completely agree with this analysis. We are supposed to do a poetry project and my group was given Lord Alfred Tennyson and when I first read the poem it came to me that this could be a plausible interpretation.