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. 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.

RTC

Q1. “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.

Q2. 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.

Q3. 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.

Q4. 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.

Q5. 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.