"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grass
Of the forest's ferny floor;
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.
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.
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:
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.
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;
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.
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:
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 promise to return was made so many years in the past that, now that he is able to fulfill that promise there is no one there to bear witness. that's my take on this mysterious poem. Calling out to the spirits before he leaves almost as proof of his return. Very dark and mysterious.
~Von
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Von-
A good one to periodically refresh.
Charley
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Appears that others had to memorize this poem when they were in school. Do not thinks kids have to do that often any more. Liked the flow and the rhythm and rhyme in these lines. Like to read these older poems now and again.
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Ask any carpenter
Sounds like God, knocking on the door of heaven, only from the inside out, entreating all who are without to make inquiry. Some hear, but not many takers. Why is it that you can only knock on one side of a door?
Or can we? -
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What is it about
From guest David Usaj (contact)
What is this poem about. I read it over and over again but still can't get it? -
The Answer?
Reminds me of some of the stories by Franz Kafka.
The answer would never be as satisfying as the mystery of the unanswered knock.
Charley Noble -
From guest kate (contact)
the poem is seriously touching.it is being taught in our school too.i suppose the page viewers should also have been able to see its summary. -
The Listeners
Great poem! Tell them I cama and no one answered; tell them I kept my word. Great words, very inspiring. Very important to keep one's word.
-by Hardy Parkerson - Lake Charles, LA -
The Listeners
From guest Carole Revell (contact)
I had forgotten this poem until someone on the phone said to me - Is there anybody there - when I didn't answer and it suddenly brought back to me the first two lines of this poem - I had to recite the whole poem in front of the school in the 50s when I was at Grammar School - I could see myself on the stage pretty scared at the time but I had learned it well and didn't make any mistakes! It was great to read the rest of the poem and then remember it from all those years ago - it's a great poem - it's a shame that kids aren't taught poetry the same way we were. -
From guest Floyd E. Batchelder (contact)
So, who was it that came in the poem The Listeners? It was the moment in your life when you could have done something, when you could have done the things you were sent by your genes and your family to do. That moment when your courage failed, when you took the wrong road, buster, and ended up here with the rest of us in the junk pile. That's what I think. And there is no going back. We are all doomed. Unless, of course, you vote for Obama. He offers "The Audacity of Hope." Agreed, probably a chimera, but it's the only crap game in town, Archimedes, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Mozart, dead. -
Stand on your office desk and wave your hands in the air
This poem is so easy to remember because you can picture each line as the story enfolds. 'and a bird flew up out of the turret, above the travellers head' you can see it flying away. Then he bangs on the door a second time and shouts but there's no answer.
I wonder who asked the traveller to call. He kept his word. He was a man of honour.
A terrific piece. -
darkly beautiful
I read this poem when I was in middel school, I have been looking for it for years and am so happy to have finaly found it again! The imagry in it is very stark and realistic, i agree with the last two posts that you can really picture in your mind how it all plays out. Wonderfuly written
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We acted this poem out as a play for an assembly item at school back in 1971, (in N.S.W., Australia) and the first few lines have stayed with me ever since - I could pull them up at any time, they just continued to float in my brain's recesses, but I could never remember past the 8th line - so frustrating. I finally thought to search the 'net today, and now I have goose-bumps! I will share this with my daughter - she will love it. And NOW I know who wrote it. A BIG thank you!
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I absolutely LOVE this poem!! my mom read it to me when i was little, but then i could never find it after that... and i have found it once again! yay! i love his word choice, like "champed" and "perplexed" and "spake" . I can close my eyes and just imagine the scene. A man standing outside an old delapidated house with his horse eating behind him, and his eyes are searching for some sign of life, yet silence is the only reply he gets to his calling... yet he feels that someone is listening. It also has a nice finish, one that leaves you almost satisfied... but with a twinge in the back of your brain leaving you wondering who the "phantoms" were, and why didn't they answer?
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