The listeners Flashcards
Point 1
walking the readers through the world of the traveler, the use of mysterious words and sound effects to illustrate his isolation.
Point 2
switching the point of view to the curious listeners
Point 3
uses repetition style to make us feel tense with unanswered question.
Point 1=
“moonlight”
the word moon usually suggests something supernatural, magic, balance, and what draws the creatures of the Night. The fact that the door is ‘moonlight’ focuses the reader’s attention to the door. It seems to act as a barrier that sperate the traveler from the strangeness of the listeners.
Point 1=
“grey eyes”
this implicates something is unclear, baffling, and gloomy. It emphasizes the confusion that the traveler feels not being sure if there is anyone behind that door. Grey eyes also represent being blind, having your vision being foggy. This might also imply that both the traveler and us readers are oblivious to what murkiness lies behind the door.
Point 1=
“forests ferny floor”
visual details like the alliteration enables the readers to truly see and feel we are in the outside world of the travelers making it memorable. ‘Ferns’ convey that this forest is very much abandoned and not been cared for. This suggests that the settlers are not physically present. The alliteration of /f/ creates sound of peace and airiness, which contrasts greatly to the feelings the travelers which are tense and dazed.
Point 1= personal response
The image created of the traveler’s world makes us feel suspicious of what hides behind the door, and isolated from the truth and any life.
Point 2=
“phantoms”
Phantoms are associated with spirits, being haunted, ghosts, menacing, hallucinations, shadows, and being paranormal. This makes us question if they are actually present or if they are a figment of the traveler’s imagination emphasizing the ominous mood created by this description. The poet also uses an old style of language.
Point 2=
“dwelt in the lone house’
hrough the use of the old-fashioned word dwelt it adds more to the image of being haunted. Dwelt means to stay for a while, and because it’s in a lone house it emphasizes the idea of being alone, and isolated from the outside. To the readers it paints an image of a haunted house and spirits inhabiting the abanded area.
Point 2=
“from the world of men”
emphasizes that they are ghostly, and do not belong to our world. They observe, yet don’t interact like an alien iscalated. This adds to the ominous feeling making them seem creepy and eerie.
Point 2= personal response
It makes us also feel concerned and uncomfortable.
Point 3=
“Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word”
This builds up anxiousness and fear of the iminate silence and it paints an image of desperation of the travelers.
Point 3=
“the shadowiness of the still house”
shadows sometimes symbolize the unknown and dangers that it might have. Not being aware of what is happening and having the truth hidden to you. The fact that the house is still emphasizes that there is no life in that house, nothing moves.
Point 3=
“silence surged softly backward”
This creates auditory image of being followed by the strange feelings and unusual experience. Having encountered the listeners unforgettable much like the poem.
Conclusion
Overall, Walter De La Mare makes us of words that makes us feel panicked for the travelers and using styles of repetition to highlight the point of the bizarre world of listeners which not only makes the traveller feel tense but the readers as well. Through all of that we really feel we are experiencing it first-hand putting us in that narrative of having us at the edge of our seats.
