A House upon the Height — Lighthouse

A chimney never smoked shapes a lighthouse. The first ten lines describe a lighthouse, but who are the we and He in the last two lines? The poem says firmly two time never in "we never lisped" and "He never told." He is the lighthouse personified who can never lisp or tell. We are the lighthouse and its keeper. The narrator is a lonely lighthouse-keeper.

A House upon the Height－1
That Wagon never reached－
No Dead, were ever carried down－
No Peddler's Cart－approached－

Whose Chimney never smoked－5
Whose Windows－Night and Morn－
Caught Sunrise first－and Sunset－last－
Then－held an Empty Pane－

Whose fate－Conjecture knew－9
No other neighbor－did－
And what it was－we never lisped－
Because He－never told－
(F.555/J.399)
[1] House, Height:: a high building.
[2-4] never reached, carried, approached:: a description of its isolation.
[5] Chimney:: the shape of a lighthouse.
[7] Sunrise first, Sunset last:: a location near the coast.
[8] Empty Pane:: without curtain.
[9] fate Conjecture knew:: the fate of lighthouse is assumed to be lonely forever.
[10] No other neighbor:: a lighthouse will never have any neighbor.
[11] we:: the lighthouse keeper (the narrator) and the lighthouse. never lisped:: the keeper personified the lighthouse due to loneliness.
[12] He:: the lighthouse.

The lighthouse-keepers on either side lead a lonely life. Each of them is the first or last inhabitant of his island. He of Bonifazio is the southernmost Corsican I ever saw, and he of the opposite cape the northernmost man in Sardinia. They have never seen or spoken to each other. But every day they wish one another good-evening, and felicissima notte, the greeting in Italy when the woman enters the chamber with the bed-candle. The Corsican lighthouse-keeper first looks out into the night with his light and says felicissima notte, and then the Sardinian replies and also says felicissima notte; and so they go on night after night, and will go on their life long, until the light on one side shall fail for a time. And then the other light-keeper shall know that his old friend opposite is dead, and shall weep and say, felicissima notte! ─ Corsica in its Picturesque, Social, and Historical Aspects (1855)