Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was a composer, conductor, teacher, writer and folksong collector. Nonetheless, he was the first British composer in the 20th century to integrate the elements of English ancient music and English folk music into his compositions, during which he at the same time pumped a new life into the English art songs regime. Therefore, in the music history Vaughan Williams has been marked as one of the nationalism musicians, and in his line of works, not only can trace of English folk songs be found, but also the in-depth comprehension and interpretation of lines of poetry.

This study aims to discuss one of Vaughan William’s song cycles, “The House of Life,” which was on six sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and each represented different faces of love. In 1904, Vaughan William completed the composition of the song cycle.

The song cycle was comprised of six songs, including respectively “Love-Sight”, “Silent Noon”, “Lover’s Minstrels”, “Heart’s Haven”, “Death in Love” and “Love’s Last Gift”. This study investigates the biological life of Vaughan Williams and the creation background of the song cycle. Meanwhile, the study would also place emphasis on the poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti in relation to his style and backgrounds. Eventually, the study would dissect each of the six songs to conduct a thorough music analysis and interpretation research, in order to perfect the performance and the vocal interpretation of the work.