[ Cook / "The Room of the Household"]
The text of this poem is taken from The Poetical Works of Eliza Cook (Philadephia: John Ball, 1850), 323 - 325. I suspect the poem was first printed a few years prior to this book publication, but have not yet been able to find an exact date of first publication.
A "household room" is a general purpose room, and in this poem Cook celebrates the comfort that can be found in a room where animals are allowed, where neatness and restraint are not at a premium, and where comfort is most likely to be found. The speaker of this poem has been sent abroad for his/her health, but "The pursuit was in vain while my heart looked behind. / The room of the Household had bound with a spell, / And I knew not till then that I loved it so well: / "Take me back to that room," was my prayer and my cry, / "For my languishing spirit does nothing but sigh."
The speaker indeed returns home, as the last stanza of the poem records, and a Newfoundland dog is part of the comforting picture of home that the speaker remarks upon his/her return:
There was light in my glance when I saw the green woof
Of old elm-trees half screening the turreted roof;
I grew strong as I passed o'er the daisy-girt track,
And the Newfoundland sentinel welcomed me back.
But the pulse of my joy was most warmly sincere
When I met the old faces, familiar and dear;
When I lounged in the "Household-room," taking my rest;
With a tinge on my cheek, and content in my breast.