ACME
20-06-2012, 04:58 PM
Walter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist, probably best remembered for his works for children and the poem "The Listeners".
The Listeners
What is the poem about ?I
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0QGHT8s9pw
The Listeners
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grass
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
"Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood 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 hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller's 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.
Walter de la Mare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlKgIXHETmU&feature=related
I hope you 've enjoyed it.
The Listeners
What is the poem about ?I
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0QGHT8s9pw
The Listeners
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grass
Of the forest's ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
"Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood 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 hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller's 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.
Walter de la Mare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlKgIXHETmU&feature=related
I hope you 've enjoyed it.