Dinner is served, dishes and silver gleam in the light of the candles. Then, mother and daughter slip away to their own rooms, father drinks with his friends in the parlor. Young people talk and laugh in the library; Perhaps they're studying Latin or Greek or mathematics. A maid tidies up while a grandfather rocks in his chair by the fireside.
The poet captures different activities happening at the same time at home, such as dinner preparations, adult conversations, children's activities, as well as detailed descriptions of daily life within the confines of this 'grand house'.