The Listeners by Walter De La Mare. || Text | Summary | Notes

THE LISTENERS
           .....Walter De La Mare.....

TEXT:

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,  
   Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses  
   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.


WORD NOTES:





IMPORTANT QUESTION:

1. "A bird flew out of the turret"- here turret means..

Tower

2. "He stood perplexed and still"- perplexed means..

Puzzled

3. "But only a host of phantom Listeners"- here phantom means..

Ghostly

4. "His horse in the silence champed the grass" champed means?

Ate noisily.

5. "No head from the leaf fringed sill"- sill means?

Stone at the bottom of the window.

6. "Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken"- here hearkening means..

Listening to.

7.  "Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken"- here stirred and shaken means..

Disturbed.

8. "They heard his foot upon the stirrup "- stirrup means..

Rider's foot- rest

9. "They heard his foot upon the stirrup "- Who are they?

Phantoms.

10. "The silence surged softly backwards" here surged means..

Proceeds

11. "When the plunging hoofs were gone"- what is plunging hoofs?

Making a clattering sound.

12. The travellers horse was cropping the dark turf under ..

The starred and leafy sky.

13. Who looked on the moonlit door?

A traveller.

14. The traveller knocked on the ...

Moonlit door

15. The traveller had ...

Grey eyes.

16. The traveller stood ...

Perplexed.

17. Who are Listeners?

Phantoms

18. Who were listening to that voice from the world of men?

The phantoms.

19. How many times the traveller asked the questions "is there anybody there"?

Three times.

20. The phantoms listened to the travellers ....

Call

21. What did The traveller feel in his heart ?

Their strangeness.

22. What was the last message left by the traveller?

He kept his word.

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