The Listeners - by Walter de la Mare

A poem I have loved since my early teens - one of those very rare moments on first reading (or hearing) when you know something important, something deep and lasting has happened.

It's also great that The Listeners gently provokes many wonderful interpretations. For me, this poem's mystery should remain under de la Mare's lock and key, for that is its transcendent power, especially on a young mind.

I thought Vaughan Williams' Lark Ascending was fitting for this, so I remixed and added some acoustics. I recorded the poem itself some time ago with one of those free plastic stick mics. So yah, it's all a bit low bit - haha!

Still, I hope you find pleasure in this, and don't mind my running Vaughan Williams' music for much longer than the poem.

Here is the poem:

The Listeners

'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:
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.


[Source: The Collected Poems of Walter de la Mare (1979)]

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[AngeleDeux1]

what is the music? :)

[AntPDC]

@AngeleDeux1 I credited the music in my description :) - and I see that the copyright owners flagged it too! It's Ralph Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending". The composition is based on the eponymous poem about a Skylark by George Meredith. If you have ever lain down in a field in the British countryside in Summer and looked up, you will have often heard, and then seen far far above, a hovering skylark singing. It's a profound joy!

[supersesqui]

Well made vid, good music and beautiful stills.

But, absolutely no soul in this reading ! Lifeless.

Having good pronounciation and a clear voice can be nice if reading map directions to somone. It's the same difference Stephane Grappelli & Yehudi Menuhin. One is technically perfect.....the other makes one want to play the instrument.

[AntPDC]

@supersesqui Why thanks! Serious posters do so to convey their love and enthusiasm for an artist, in the hope that it will light a spark in many people's minds elsewhere, however imperfectly conveyed. I see that you have posted similar criticism about others' reading of The Listeners, in a tone I'd not myself employ. This isn't the Royal Shakespeare Company :). May we hear your own interpretation? And I mean that sincerely. I love to discuss things and it would be fun!

[supersesqui]

@AntPDC

Not sure MY voice would be appreciated by many others. This poem has been in my head for 45 years.................for some reason I have always felt that the story is far far darker than appreciated or read by most people. As for 'tone' ...I am sured you are not intending a pun....but that is exactly what I was railing at elsewhere.. lol......someone who has the audacity to make a video, reading a poem, who cannot even pronounce the words on the page in front of them !

[AntPDC]

@supersesqui Oh come on - give it a go! Like you, this poem affected me yonks ago. We are all amateurs here, and de la Mare would doubtless be tickled by the silver hare he set running. And he'd be equally happy, I'm betting, that his poem had become the subject of lively discussion far into 2011 - and in a completely incredible global forum such as this! I really want to hear your take, especially because of your singular feelings. I assure you, there will be no acidulousness from me.

[paulboon]

im sure walter de la mare wrote a poem a about a cat and railways maybe im wrong this poem the liseners is lovely

[AntPDC]

@jennywilsonstudio Thanks Jen :)

[AntPDC]

@muslimar Thank you! I agree with you about its haunting nature - a story that will never be resolved. So we use our imagination, and therein lies this poem's power. Best wishes.

[muslimar]

i learned this at school many moons ago and  have never forgotten it's haunting words, thanks well read