The Listeners

By Walter De La Mare Is there anybody there? said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit (light reflected from the moon) door; And his horse in the silence champed (bite or chew noisily) the grasses Of the forests ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret (a tower or tower shape building), Above the Travellers head: And he smote (knock) upon the door again a second time; Is there anybody there? he said. But no one descended (to move from a higher to a lower place) to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed (edge/ boarder) sill ( a peak) Leaned (bend) over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed (filled with confusion) and still. But only a host of phantom (ghost/ no physical reality) listeners That dwelt (resident p.p.) in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging (large group of people gathered together) the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Travellers call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head: Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word, he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.

Summary of the Listener

The poet Walter de la Mare in his poem 'The Listener' speaks about a traveller on horseback, who had visited an empty house in a forest, on a moonlit night.He knocked on the door hoping against hope to get an expected response.To his utter dismay, the only listeners were a host of ghosts.The message that he attempted to pass over to the person in the house, was only reverberated back.He had kept his promise.The silence that welcomed him was only broken with the plunging hoofs of the traveller's horse as he retreated. The lonely traveller on his horseback, reaches a lone house in the forest to deliver a message. He was greeted by a bird, which flew out of the turret above his head, when he knocked on the door.There was a tinge of eeriness. The second time he knocked louder, and shouted to find out if there was anybody in. With no one descending the stairs, nor anyone peering over the window-sill fringed with leaves, he stood baffled and still.The air was stirred by the traveller's call. Whilst waiting for a reply, he had a strange feeling within. It was a starry night, and the thick boughs hung over.He smote on the door and shouted even louder, lifting his head giving the message to tell them that he had come; but no one answered. He shouted once again, that he had kept his word. Every word he spoke, echoed through the still house: the sound of his foot upon the stirrup and the clank of the horses' hoofs on the stone with the retreating hoofs, leaving behind the listeners. .. The poem starts as a horseman comes to visit a person he has once promised (someone) he would. But the mansion is deserted, occupied only by a bird and phantoms. His repeated enquiries, unexpectedly, are not answered. So he is feeling confused, lonely and awkward. His questions are heard only by a group of ghosts living there, who, disturbed by the traveler's knockings, huddle up along the staircase apprehensively, for the world of the living is as intriguing for them as is theirs for those alive. Unanswered, he leaves the place in it's quietness and goes back. The poet creates a strange, eerie atmosphere by the use of likely words, phrases and situation. The turret suggests a medieval mansion; the bird shows that the house is deserted; the starry night adds up to the atmosphere's eeriness; the unchecked trees and fern about the house confirm its solitude. The poem highlights the two worlds the living i.e. the traveler and the dead i.e. the listeners. The poem basically tells us that the living and the dead are in a separate world and there is know way the dead can come back. Indirectly the poem tells us that a change is a must nothing will be with you for ever and thus time is valuable. The poem also teaches us to keep any promise which we make.

Characters The Traveller: A man who arrives on horseback late at night to call at a dwelling in a forest. When he pounds on the door, no one answers. The Listeners: Phantoms inside the dwelling who listen to the Traveller speaking as he pounds on the door. They do not respond to him. Them: The people that the Traveller came to see (line 27). However, these people do not respond, possibly because they are sleeping, they do not wish to see the Traveller, or they are now living elsewhere. It is also possible that they died and became the phantom listeners. Summary .......A man identified as the Traveller arrives on horseback late at night to call at a forest dwelling. Its turret suggests that it is a mansion or chteau. .......The traveler knocks on the door, asking, Is anybody there? Spiritsa host of themgather on steps leading downstairs to listen, but no one answers the door. The traveler knocks again. Still, no one respondseither by answering the door or looking out a window. Somehow sensing the presence of the unearthly listeners inside, the traveler says, Tell them I came, and no one answered / That I kept my word. Narration .......The narrator, or speaker, presents the story in third-person point of view, describing what is taking place outside the house and what is taking place inside the house. Rhyme Scheme .......The rhyming lines are 2 and 4, 6 and 8, 10 and 12, 14 and 16, and so on. All the rhymes are masculine rather than feminine. In masculine rhyme, only the last syllable of one line rhymes with the last syllable of another line, as in lines 2 and 4 (door and floor) and 6 and 8 (head and said). In feminine rhyme, the last two syllables of one line rhyme with the last two syllables of another line, as in ringing and singing. Notes 1...champed: Chewed. 2...ferny: Abounding with ferns. 3...turret: Cylindrical tower rising from a building. 4...smote: Struck; pounded. 5...Hearkening: Listening carefully; paying close attention. 6...cropping: Feeding on; biting off 7...leafy sky: Leaves silhouetted against the sky. 8...sound of iron on stone: Sound of horseshoes striking the pavement. Themes Supernatural Eavesdropping .......When we are alone in a house or a desolate tract of country, many of us sometimes sense that a ghostly presence is observing us. Such moments tend to occur when the sun is down, the moon is up, and an eerie stillness surrounds us. In The Listeners, the man identified as the Traveller senses that otherworldly beings are eavesdropping on him. And he responds to them. They do not respond to him, however. They are there only to listen. Mystery

.......The poem is a metaphor for the mysteries we ourselves encounter as listeners or as callers rapping at a door. We go through life asking why, and then seek answers. But we do not always get them, whether we are looking for them in religion, science, social interaction, or in ourselves. Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem. For definitions of figures of speech, see Literary Terms. Alliteration forests ferny floor (line 4) smote upon the door again a second time (line 7) suddenly smote (line 25) Louder, and lifted his head (line 26) silence surged softly backward (line 35)AnaphoraStood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hallMetaphorin an air stirred and shaken Comparison of the air to a thing that can be shakenParadoxTheir stillness answering his cry Stillness (inaudibility) is giving an answer. Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward (lines 33-37) They heard . . . how the silence surged. (One cannot hear silence.) Study Questions and Writing Topics Write a short poem with an eerie setting. The topic is open. In your opinion, who are the people (or entities) that the Traveller came to see? Why did he want to see them? Explain your answers. What do the lines centering on the bird and the horse contribute to the effect of the poem? In line 20, does lonely modify Traveller's or call? Lines 21 and 22 report that "he [the Traveller] felt in his heart their strangeness, / Their stillness answering his cry." Does this line mean that the phantoms are communicating with the Traveller? Lines 25 and 26 contain enjambment. Explain this literary device. For information on enjambment, click here. Will the the Traveller make a return visit to the house?