The Listeners

from Walter de La Mare

Summary

• moonlit 🠂 vom Mond beleuchtet

• to champ 🠂 kauen

• to smite 🠂 jmdn. schlagen

• sill 🠂 Fenstersims

• to dwell 🠂 verweilen

• to throng 🠂 drängen

• to hearken 🠂 horchen

Difficult Words

• Imagery

• Repetition

• Personification

• Rhyme and Rhythm

• Symbolism

Poetic devices

discussion

1. Who or what do you think the listeners represent in the poem?

2. What is the significance of the traveler's persistent attempts to communicate with the listeners? What drives him to seek a response from them?

3. Why do you think the listeners remain silent throughout the poem?

4. How does the poem create and sustain a sense of mystery and suspense? What techniques does the poet employ to evoke these feelings in the reader?

5. Discuss the role of the setting and atmosphere in the poem. How does the moonlit night, the deserted house, and the forest contribute to the overall mood and meaning of the poem?

6. What is the significance of the last stanza, particularly the lines "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"?

7. Explore the theme of loneliness in the poem. How does the traveler's encounter with the listeners highlight the human longing for companionship and the consequences of isolation?

8. What emotions does the poem evoke in you as a reader? How does it create a sense of suspense and intrigue?

Thanks for your participation