Walter de la Mare published "The Listeners" in 1912, as the title poem of his second collection of poetry. It remains one of his most famous pieces of writing, and reflects the author's fascination with mystery and the supernatural. The poem tells the story of an unnamed "Traveller" approaching an abandoned house seemingly inhabited by ghosts, but leaves the reader's many questions as to who these entities actually are unanswered.
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The Full Text of “The Listeners”
1‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
2 Knocking on the moonlit door;
3And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
4 Of the forest’s ferny floor:
5And a bird flew up out of the turret,
6 Above the Traveller’s head:
7And he smote upon the door again a second time;
8 ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
9But no one descended to the Traveller;
10 No head from the leaf-fringed sill
11Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
12 Where he stood perplexed and still.
13But only a host of phantom listeners
14 That dwelt in the lone house then
15Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
16 To that voice from the world of men:
17Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
18 That goes down to the empty hall,
19Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
20 By the lonely Traveller’s call.
21And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
22 Their stillness answering his cry,
23While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
24 ’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
25For he suddenly smote on the door, even
26 Louder, and lifted his head:—
27‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
28 That I kept my word,’ he said.
29Never the least stir made the listeners,
30 Though every word he spake
31Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
32 From the one man left awake:
33Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
34 And the sound of iron on stone,
35And how the silence surged softly backward,
36 When the plunging hoofs were gone.
The Full Text of “The Listeners”
1‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
2 Knocking on the moonlit door;
3And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
4 Of the forest’s ferny floor:
5And a bird flew up out of the turret,
6 Above the Traveller’s head:
7And he smote upon the door again a second time;
8 ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
9But no one descended to the Traveller;
10 No head from the leaf-fringed sill
11Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
12 Where he stood perplexed and still.
13But only a host of phantom listeners
14 That dwelt in the lone house then
15Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
16 To that voice from the world of men:
17Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
18 That goes down to the empty hall,
19Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
20 By the lonely Traveller’s call.
21And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
22 Their stillness answering his cry,
23While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
24 ’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
25For he suddenly smote on the door, even
26 Louder, and lifted his head:—
27‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
28 That I kept my word,’ he said.
29Never the least stir made the listeners,
30 Though every word he spake
31Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
32 From the one man left awake:
33Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
34 And the sound of iron on stone,
35And how the silence surged softly backward,
36 When the plunging hoofs were gone.
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“The Listeners” Summary
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“The Listeners” Themes
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Mystery, Understanding, and the Unknown
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Isolation and Loneliness
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Listeners”
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Lines 1-4
‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor: -
Lines 5-8
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said. -
Lines 9-12
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still. -
Lines 13-16
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men: -
Lines 17-20
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. -
Lines 21-24
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
’Neath the starred and leafy sky; -
Lines 25-28
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,’ he said. -
Lines 29-32
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake: -
Lines 33-36
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.
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“The Listeners” Symbols
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The Traveller
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“The Listeners” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Paradox
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Anaphora
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Enjambment
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Sibilance
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Imagery
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Caesura
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Alliteration
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“The Listeners” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Champed
- Ferny
- Turret
- Smote
- Perplexed
- Dwelt
- Thronging
- Hearkening
- Cropping
- Ay
- Stirrup
- Iron
- Plunging
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Listeners”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Listeners” Speaker
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“The Listeners” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Listeners”
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More “The Listeners” Resources
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External Resources
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BBC Radio Performance of "Seaton's Aunt" — One recording of Walter de la Mare's ghost story, "Seaton's Aunt," among readings of his other tales of the supernatural.
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Walter de la Mare's Biography — An overview of de la Mare's life, including a brief analysis of his poetry and fiction.
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Anthony Hecht on Walter de la Mare — A brief introduction to Walter de la Mare's life and work by American poet Anthony Hecht, followed by a selection of de la Mare's poems.
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Critical Essays on de la Mare — A small online collection of essays about de la Mare's work and his literary context, hosted by the Walter de la Mare Society.
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Listen to "The Listeners" — A reading of "The Listeners," and another poem by Walter de la Mare, hosted by the Poetry Archive.
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Georgian Poetry — One overview and analysis of the school of Georgian Poetry, of which de la Mare was a part.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Walter De La Mare
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