[ Cook / "The Room of the Household"]
Cook (1818 - 1889) was an English poet and writer, well known for unconventional political views that included the importance of education for the poor and women's rights.
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.