🎬"The Listeners" by Walter de La Mare

"The Listeners" by Walter de La Mare, read by Mattie Overall.
A marvellous poem today, from the pen of Walter de La Mare. It's about loneliness, isolation and the human condition. It tells us that it's human to desire to know and to understand, but that some truths are beyond understanding, and some truths unknowable.
‘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.
00:02:00 - Poem starts
#TheListeners #WalterDeLaMare #MattiesStoryland
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[@YvonneWilson312]

Oh Mattie, THANK YOU!!!!! This was every bit as wonderful as I knew it would be! This has been my favourite poem for as long as I can remember. It's got everything. I still remember a lively discussion with a tutor when we students were asked what the poem said to us right at that moment. I suggested that it was Death who came knocking and nobody would let him in - the "one man left awake" was the one whose time was drawing near. I usually favour the more traditional interpretation but the poem has so many layers, as you say. And the delicious alliteration makes my spine tingle! Once again, thank you for reciting this for us. It's perfect.

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

Thanks for making the request Yvonne.😊

[@MattiesStoryland]

It was very much my pleasure, Yvonne. Thank you for requesting this lovely poem; I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

Thanks Mattie. Beautiful reading. The ambiguity and the willingness to be ambiguous is really important - 'you need start, conflict, resolution, character development!! As if poems and short stories were a recipe.... Never read an 'analysis' of this poem. But....personally I see the knocking on the door as an obvious reference to the new testament 'knock and the door shall be opened'. Instead we just find Hardy's "empty hall". Always hoped the rider went home to a nice meal.

[@MattiesStoryland]

Thank you as always, Stephen. I, too, am a fan of ambiguity - much of my favorite poetry is enigmatic and obscure. As for "conflict/resolution", I entirely agree. It has its place, but is far from the only path to travel. This is not merely true for poetry and short stories, but for film. Some of my favorite films end on decidedly ambiguous notes ("2001" A Space Odyssey", "The Shinning", "American Psycho", "Bladerunner", "The Thing" (the Carpenter one), "The Graduate"), and other favorites profess only a nodding acquaintance with traditional plot structure ("M*A*S*H*", "Gosford Park" , "Before Sunrise", "Lost in Translation", "My Dinner with Andre", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"). The latter movies are not so much about plot as they are about people, and I find myself rather sad when they end as I wont be able to spend any more time with them.

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

@@MattiesStoryland like that list of films. Hope you like my new one...definitely a bit unconventional 😂. Thanks again....perhaps I could suggest Browning's "Child Roland to the dark tower came" or Poe's "The cask of Amontilado".

[@MattiesStoryland]

Just listened to "Shudder Maw" and thoroughly enjoyed it! As to your excellent recommendations, I'd love to do "Childe Roland", though it'll take me a bit to get to it (I am always far, far behind on requests - speaking of which, I still owe you a "Pickman's Model"). Happily though, I can satisfy your second desire immediately; you can find my reading of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" either in my "Gothic Horror" or my "Edgar Allan Poe" playlist. I hope you enjoy it 🙂

[@StephenSinclair-d6n]

@@MattiesStoryland thanks Mattie. As always really appreciated. Will listen to "cask" later.

[@evelanpatton]

I will be listening to this again. It takes S L O W I N G D O W N from our socialized real & online lives to reach in to find that place of REALLY KNOCKING on a DOOR & no one letting you in because it’s seems we ARE ALL “IN” (as Jim Morrison asked that we be before we begin), prose [posed] poetry. Thank you.

[@MattiesStoryland]

Thank you very much, Evelan. Slowing down is oh-so important (and not always easy).

[@michellebonner6145]

Great work!!!!!😊

[@MattiesStoryland]

Thanks, Michelle 😀

[@fhoniemcphonsen8987]

Thanks. Nice one. My honey really enjoyed it.

[@MattiesStoryland]

I'm very glad for the both of you 😄

[@deborahcarr9522]

I enjoy your poems. I wondered if you could read Striplings, I don’t understand what it’s about, It’s nice that you explain a bit about poems before you read them, like little Jo by Robert Burns. Debbie

[@MattiesStoryland]

Thank you, Debbie. Do you mean the poem by Atsuro Riley? I'd be happy to, though it will take a little preparation. It is a brutal poem, and I would like to do it justice (or at least attempt to). And I will certainly give an explanation as to the story I believe the poet is telling.

[@deborahcarr9522]

Oh wow! Yes that’s the one. I’m amazed you knew the one I meant 😁

[@christopherhodges3881]

Mattie! I have a story to suggest for you. Cormac McCarthy - A Drowning Incident. About a 12 minute read if you fancy it? I think you'll enjoy it and certain you'd perform it brilliantly. All the best, Chris

[@MattiesStoryland]

Thanks for the recommendation, Chris (and for watching and commenting, of course). I lost my father recently and in all honesty haven't had it in me to put anything up, which accounts for the recent dearth of uploads. I will get back on the horse soon though, and when I do I would love to read "A Drowning Incident" (after I finish a few projects that I've been neglecting). Such a great story! Thanks again for reaching out.