The Listeners by Walter De La Mare

1. THE LISTENERS by Walter De La Mare

2. Introduction
 Walter De La Mare’s poem,
“The Listeners”, was
published in 1912. It talked
about a Traveller who had
arrived at a silent house
with his house, in order to
keep his promise of some
sort. Though he repeatedly
knocked on the door, he
was met with silence from a
host of phantom listeners,
dwelling inside the house.

3. Theme:
 Walter De La Mare was well-known for his eerie and darkly romantic writing style,
often centred around death, ghosts or spiritual elements.
 The Listeners touches upon these components through themes of loneliness,
solitude, and interpretable supernaturalism.
 The third-person narrative provides scope to switch between the two main
characters’ situations- the Traveller and the ‘phantom listener’.
 An important aspect is the almost open ending to the poem– we do not know why
the traveller has arrived at the house, nor whether the listeners are spirits or ghosts
or people, nor what the Traveler’s promise was, and we do not find out.
 But the illustrious account, which paints a clear picture in the readers’ minds,
opens a door for an expounding of themes and an openness to mysterious
emotions.

4. Lines 1-8
 In the first stanza of this piece the speaker, who does not play a physical role in this narrative, reports the speech of a “Traveller.”
Rather than acting as a character in this story, the speaker is a third-person, semi-omniscient narrator. He is able to look down on the
action and report it back to the reader.
 The Traveler is knocking at a door at night. Space is said to be lit by “moonli[ght]” and filled with silence. These few describing
phrases paint an immediate picture of the scene. A reader will be able to imagine the door, the sky, and the sound of the “horse” as it
“champed the grasses.” This sound would be deafening in the silence.
 The reader should feel the tense expectations of the Traveler as he waits to see if someone will open the door. The noise of the horse’s
hooves on the ground is emphasized by the fact that they are standing on “the forest’s ferny floor.”
 The environment they are in is covered in plants. This leads a reader to the supposition that the Travellers are not somewhere very
industrialized. The landscape is primarily natural. As if hoping to prove this is the case, a bird is described as flying out of the “turret.”
 So far the reader has only gotten a few details about the structure on which the Traveller is knocking. It is out in the woods and it has a
“turret” or tower. This leads one to believe that it is a large building or even a castle-like home. There is an overwhelming sense of
mystery in these opening lines. This comes partially from the fact that the poem begins in medias res, or in the middle of the scene.
There has been no introduction or explanation for what is occurring.
 The Traveller decides that he will “smote upon the door again.” In this context “smote” means to strike with force. He is not being
tentative about his desire to gain entry into the building. Again the Traveller calls out,
 ‘Is there anybody there?’
 This proves that although the Traveller might be confident enough to knock hard on the door, he is still unsure about whether or not
there is actually anyone home.

5. Lines 9-16
 In the second set of lines, the speaker describes how there is no one there to greet the Traveller. He
waits, but no one “descends In a line that proves that the abode is somewhere in the woods, the
speaker states that no head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over The window that the traveler
would expect the resident of the home to appear in, remains empty. There is still no sign that
anyone is present inside the building or willing to let him in. A reader is also given the additional
detail of the Traveller’s eyes being “grey.” They portray his emotions well. He is now “perplexed” by
his situation. Perhaps he had some reason to expect that there would be someone there. The
Traveller remains “still” standing where he is.
 He is still waiting, expectantly. But there is nothing to be heard. The only others present are the
phantom listeners that dwelt in the lone house then these lines make clear that the house is in fact
empty. There is no one inside ignoring the Traveller’s knocking and shouting. This section also
emphasizes the solitary nature of the moment. The traveler is completely alone, aside from his
horse. No one can even hear his voice.

6. Lines 17-24
 At approximately the halfway point of this piece the speaker returns to the
image of the “phantoms” that he sees as being the only inhabitants of the
house.
 They move through the “empty hall” and take to the stairs as any normal
resident would. These ghostly images do not make an impact on their world.
They are unable to respond to the “Traveller’s call,” although they can hear it.
 The air around them is “stirred and shaken” by the sounds he makes.
 The narrative returns to the heart of the traveller. He suddenly feels strange, as if
he knows there are “phantoms” inside who are listening to his words.
 It is the quiet of the house that “answer[s] his cry.” This fact inspires him to try
again.

7. Lines 25-32
 The speaker “smote on the door” once more. This time with more force. He makes his knocks
“Louder.” After, he lifts his head up to the window that was mentioned in a previous line and calls
out. The words he speaks increase the mystery of the entire narrative. He asks the presence he
feels inside the house “Tell them I came.” As one would expect there is no answer. He follows this
up with another phrase, “That I kept my word.”
 There is no revelatory statement following up these odd words to explain the situation. This is
both a negative and a positive. While one’s personal curiosity will not be sated, one is able to
craft any narrative they want on top of de la Mare’s.
 The final lines of this section describe how the words “he spake” fell through the shadowiness of
the still house.
 The sounds are reaching no one with the capacity to respond to them. They dissolve into the
shadows.

8. Lines 33-36
 In the final four lines, the speaker returns to the “phantom” or “phantoms” who are listening. By the
time the Traveller leaves the front of the house, there is only one “man left awake.” This single
listener took note of the Traveller’s “foot upon the stirrup” of his saddle. The phantom heard the
passing of the silence as the man moved away until there was nothing.
 Readers of this piece are left to wonder what exactly happened in the last thirty-six lines. There are
a number of different interpretations which could be posed. Perhaps those whom the speaker came
to see have passed on and are now the “phantoms” watching silently inside.
 Those the Traveller was seeking out could’ve moved on to another location, leaving behind
remnants of themselves or allowing other entities to take up residence there.
 Beyond these literal interpretations is a general theme of loneliness. The Traveller is in a solitary
state throughout the piece and the forces inside the house represent loneliness in their very being.

9. Summary:
 The poem opens with the main character- the Traveller, along with his
horse- knocking on a door in the late hours of the night and asking if
anybody is there. There is no movement, except for a bird flying out of
the house’s turret and over the Traveller’s head. The Traveller knocks
again, but the lack of response causes him immense confusion.
 It is then that the ‘phantom listeners’ are introduced- hanging around
inside the lonely house and listening to the strange voice from a
different world. The poet describes the stillness of the house, the way
the phantom listeners dwell among the moonlit beams. The only
interruption of the silence is the Traveller’s call.

10. Summary:
 The focus then switches from the phantom listeners back to the Traveller,
who feels the strange, rather eerie aura, coming from inside the house that
would not answer his exclamation. His horse continues to munch on the
grass under the night sky as he tries one final time to get a response,
knocking loudly on the door. But once again, he hears nothing. Therefore,
he simply asks the silence- or to whoever may be listening- to tell ‘them’
that he had come, and had kept his promise, but nobody was there.
 The ‘listeners’ do not move, nor do they make a sound- the Traveller gets no
indication that he may have any audience at all. But as the poem draws to a
close, it is revealed that his words were heard by the ‘one man left awake’
inside the house- presumably a supernatural being or a spirit. It is left open
for interpretation. The ‘man left awake’ does not break the silence himself-
he just listens as the Traveller mounts his horse and gallops away.

11. Structure and Form
 ‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare is a thirty-six-line poem which is
contained within one block of text.
 The piece follows a consistent pattern of rhyme in the scheme of,
abcbdefe, and so on, changing end sounds as the poet saw fit.
 De la Mare chose to create rhyming pairs that are separated by un-
rhyming lines. This allows the poem to maintain a certain amount of unity
without falling into a sing-song-like pattern.
 Considering that the tone is melancholy throughout, this was a useful
choice.
 In regards to the rhythm chosen by de la Mare, it is anapestic in nature.
This means that there are two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed
syllable. It creates a feeling of anxiety in a piece that adds an additional
layer to the overwhelming theme of loneliness.

12. Literary Devices
 Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For
example, the sound of /o/ and /oo/ in “Knocking on the moonlit door.”
 Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the
successive words. For example, the sound of /f/ in “forest’s ferny floor” and /h/ in
“his horse.”
 Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line.
For example, the sound of /s/ in “And his horse in the silence champed the
grasses”, /n/ in “Leaned over and looked into his grey eye” and the sound of /s/
and /l/ in “Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight.”
 Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at
a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

13. Literary Devices
 Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For
example, “Their stillness answering his cry”, “Neath the starred and leafy sky” and “Louder, and
lifted his head.”
 Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects
that are different. The poem shows the use of the metaphors of atmosphere, ghosts, and man.
 Personification: The poet used silence, shadowiness, and stillness as if they have emotions and
a life of their own.
 Rhetorical Questions: The poem shows the use of rhetorical questions such as “‘Is there
anybody there?’ said the Traveller, / Knocking on the moonlit door” used twice in the poem.
 Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic
meanings that are different from literal meanings. Here the night, the stillness, the traveler, and
the ghosts are symbols of mystery and supernatural elements.

14. “The Listeners” As a Representative of Supernatural Elements:”
 The anonymous traveler is shown knocking at the door of some
building in the night lightened up with the moonlight.
 His horse starts grazing on the grass when a bird flies out of the turret,
making the situation and environment mysterious.
 Getting no response, the traveler knocks again but stands puzzled as
he does not get a response to his repeated knocks.
 Some ghosts, though, peep out as if they want to respond to his
knocking, but he meets deathly silence outside. After this, he
continues beating the door without getting any response, and then he
calls out that he has kept his promise.
 When the words echo in the darkness of the night, the ghosts listen to
the sounds of the hoofs of his horse taking the traveler away from the
house.