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The Listeners notes
The listeners poem summary
The poet Walter De La Mare in his poem ‘The Listeners' speaks about a traveller on horseback, who had visited an empty house in a forest, on a moonlight 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 turnet above his head when he knocked on the door. There was a tinge of uriness (frightening and strange). The second time he knocked louder and shouted to find out if there was anybody in. But nobody came up and answered to the door or the window whose sill was leafy. The traveller was puzzled and remained there motionless. The air was stirred by the traveller's call. There lived a group of ghosts. They were listening to the human voice. They stood in a body in the faint moonlight on the dark stair leading to the empty hall. It was a starry night and the thick boughs hungover. He smote on the door and shouted even louder. Once again, 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 horse's hoofs on the stone with the retreating hoofs, leaving behind the listeners.
the listeners summary video in hindi
The listeners poem questions and answers
COMPREHENSION
1. Why did the traveller knock at the door?
Ans: The traveller knocked at the door and wanted to get in because he had promised to meet the resident of the house.
2. Did anyone answer his knock?
Ans: No one answered his knock.
3. What does the poet refer to as the 'voice from the world of men'?
Ans: The voice of traveller is referred to as the 'voice from the world of men.
4. Explain the phrase 'perplexed and still'?
Ans: The phrase ‘perplexed and still' means puzzled and motionless. The poet uses this phrase to show that the traveller was confused and puzzled but he remained motionless.
5. What time of the day is described in the poem? Pick out the words that suggest this.
Ans: The time described in the poem is night. The words suggest that it was night are Moonlit door, moonlight; moonbeams; starred and leafy sky; shadowiness, one man left awake.
6. Why have the hoofs of the horse been described as ‘plunging'?
Ans: The hoofs of the horse have been described as ‘plunging' because he made his horse move quickly when he left the place.
7. What is the effect created by the words ‘The silence surged softly backwards'?
Ans: ‘The silence surged softly backwards' indicates that it was mysteriously still again when the traveller quickly moved forward. The place became silent.
REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT
1. And his horse in the silence chomped the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor.
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the traveller's head:
(a) What does ‘his' refer to?
Ans: ‘His' refers to the traveller's.
(b) What has disturbed the bird from its nest in the turret?
Ans: The knocking at the door by the traveller has disturbed the bird from its nest in the turret.
(C) Which part of the country is the traveller in?
Ans: The traveller is in the hilly part of the country.
(d) What is he doing here?
Ans: He is trying to call and meet the dwellers of the house.
2. But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwell 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.
(a) Who are the 'host of phantom listener's?
Ans: The ghosts in that lonely house are the ‘host of phantom listeners’.
(b) What were they listening to?
Ans: They were listening to the voice of the traveller.
(c) Whose is the 'voice from the world of men’? Explain the phrase.
Ans: It is the traveller's voice which referred in the phrase ‘voice from the world of men’.
(d) Who stood ‘throughing the faint moonbeams on the dark stair'?
Ans: The ghost stood ‘throughing the faint moonbeams on the dark stair.
3. Aye, 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.
(a) Who are the ‘they' mentioned in these lines?
Ans: The ghosts are the 'they' mentioned in these lines.
(b) Where does the sound 'of iron on stone' come from?
Ans: The sound 'of iron on stone' comes from the hoofs of the horse and stony road as a result of the galloping of the horse fast.
(c) Why do you think the person is in such a hurry?
Ans: Because the person wants to go away from the place as soon as possible.
EXTRA QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. What did the traveller do when he reached the lone house?
Ans: The traveller knocked at the door when he reached the lone house.
2. What did the traveller say knocking at the door?
Ans: By knocking at the door the traveller asked if there was anybody there.
3. How did the bird greet when the traveller knocked at the door?
Ans: The bird greeted the traveller by flowing out of the turret above his head when he knocked at the door.
4. What was the reaction of the traveller when he did not get any response from that house?
Ans: The traveller was quite afraid but he stood puzzled and motionless there.
5. When was the traveller perplexed?
Ans: The traveller was perplexed after his second time knocking at the door in vain. He knocked at the door twice but nobody came out and he felt confused.
6. Who were the listeners of the traveller's voice?
Ans: The ghosts that lived in the house were the listeners of the traveller's voice.
7. Why did the traveller left the place?
Ans: The traveller left the place because no one answered and open the door when he knocked at the door. He felt the strangeness of the situation. The mysterious condition made the traveller flee from the place.
8. What was his message to the listeners before he left the house?
Ans: He told the listeners that he had kept his promise. The traveller gave this message to the listeners to tell the residents of the house.
EXPLAIN WITH REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT
(a)Is anybody there?.....
……………………………..
Is there anybody there?" he said.
Ans: These lines have been taken from the poem ‘The Listeners’ composed by Walter De La Mare.
Through these lines, the poet speaks about a traveller on horseback, who had visited an empty house in a forest, on a moonlit night. The traveller Knocked at the door and asked if there was anybody else there. His horse ate fern of the floor silently. The traveller was greeted by a bird, which flew out of the turret above his head when he knocked on the door. Again he knocked at the door asking if there was anybody there.
(b) But no one descended….
………………………………
By the lonely Traveller's call.
Ans: These lines have been taken from the poem ‘The Listeners’ composed by Walter De La Mare.
Through these lines, the poet speaks that after knocking at the door by the traveller second time also, nobody came up, with no one descending the stairs, nor anyone peering over the window. Whose sill was leafy. He stood baffled and motionless. The air was stirred by the traveller's call. There lived a group of ghosts. Only the listeners of the traveller's voice were the ghosts those lived in that lonely house. They stood in a body in the faint moonlight on the dark stair leading to the empty hall.
(c) And he felt in his…..
…………………………………..
when the plunging hoofs were gone.
Ans: These lines have been taken from the poem ‘The Listeners’ composed by Walter De la Mare.
In these lines, the poet explains about how the travellers went back without getting any response from the residence of that lonely house when he knocked at the door. The traveller felt the strangeness of the situation. His horse was eating dark turf. The sky was covered with stars. Suddenly he struck at the door again 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. But it was so still, mysterious still. 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.
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