Class : 7 - TERM I – Poem – Unit -2 - The Listeners Poem *

 TERM I – Poem – Unit -2 - The Listeners Poem *

Warm Up

You are walking into a grove at 12 noon. You feel that somebody is following you. When you look behind, nobody

is there. How would you feel? What would you do? Share it in the class.

If I were walking into a grove at 12 noon and felt like somebody was following me, but saw no one when I looked back, I would feel a little uneasy and alert. The bright noon light would give me some comfort, but the strange feeling would still make me cautious.

I would probably:

• Walk a bit faster without showing panic.
• Stay aware of my surroundings, looking and listening carefully.
• Keep to clear, open paths instead of going deeper into the thick trees.
• Maybe call or text someone to let them know where I am.
• If the feeling continued, I would head back toward a safe, populated area.

 

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 fl oor: And a bird fl ew 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.

Walter de la Mare

 

B. Find a line from the poem to match the pictures given below and write it in the blank.

1.       Keyhole/door (Top-left image):
➔ "Knocking on the moonlit door;"

2.       Castle turret (Top-right image):
➔ "And a bird flew up out of the turret,"

3.       Door (Middle-left image):
➔ "Smote upon the door again a second time;"

4.       Fern leaves (Middle-right image):
➔ "Of the forest’s ferny floor:"

5.       Ghost/phantom (Bottom-left image):
➔ "But only a host of phantom listeners"

6.       Traveller (Bottom-right image):
➔ "Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,"

 

C. Read the statements and say True or False. Quote lines from the poem to support your answer.

S. No.         Statement                          True or False                                   Quote

1. The Traveller came at noon.

2. The house was situated in the forest.

3. There were ghostly listeners inside the house.

4. The Traveller came to the house by bicycle.

5. The phantoms answered and asked the traveller to go away.

 

S. No.	Statement	True/False	Quote from the Poem
1	The Traveller came at noon.	False	"Knocking on the moonlit door;" (It was nighttime, not noon.)
2	The house was situated in the forest.	True	"Of the forest’s ferny floor:"
3	There were ghostly listeners inside the house.	True	"But only a host of phantom listeners"
4	The Traveller came to the house by bicycle.	False	"And his horse in the silence champed the grasses"
5	The phantoms answered and asked the Traveller to go away.	False	"But only a host of phantom listeners / Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight" (They did not speak.)

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D. Answer the following questions.

1. Who is the speaker?
➔ The speaker is the narrator describing the Traveller’s experience.

2. What was the horse doing?
➔ The horse was champing (chewing) the grasses of the forest’s ferny floor.

3. Who were the listeners?
➔ The listeners were ghostly phantoms inside the lonely house.

4. How did the Traveller feel when nobody answered?
➔ The Traveller felt perplexed and stood still.

5. What kind of feeling does the poem create?
➔ The poem creates a mysterious, eerie, and suspenseful feeling.

E. Work in pairs and answer the questions:

1. "Of the forest’s ferny floor."
➔ Alliterated words: forest’s, ferny, floor
(Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sound — here, the "f" sound.)

2. Pick out the rhyming words from the poem:
➔ Rhyming words:

• door – floor
• head – said
• sill – still
• then – men
• hall – call

3. Write the words which are used to create a sense of mystery:
➔ Words creating mystery:

• moonlit door
• phantom listeners
• lone house
• dark stair
• empty hall
• air stirred and shaken
• perplexed and still

F. Discuss in groups. Draw the haunted house described in the poem and write a paragraph about it in your own words.

 You can draw:

• An old, broken house with a dark stair,
• A moonlit sky above it,
• A door covered with ivy,
• Maybe ghostly figures (phantoms) standing inside,
• A horse standing outside eating grass.

Sample paragraph:

The haunted house in the poem looks lonely and mysterious under the soft moonlight. It stands deep inside a forest, with wild plants and ferns growing all around it. The door looks old and covered with creepers. Inside the house, ghostly figures, or phantom listeners, silently gather on the dark staircase. The house seems cold, empty, and filled with an eerie silence. It gives a feeling of suspense, as if it is waiting