This poem by Walter de la Mare describes a Lonely Traveller who had riding on his horse,in midst of a dark forest,reaches a house where he has come to fulfil an unnamed promise.He pounds the door once but gets no response.Only the sound of his horse munching on the grass is to be heard.A bird flies out of the turret and above his head.Again,he pounds the door and shouts "Is there anybody there?"He gets no answer.But he knows inside reside a 'host of phantom listeners' hearing a voice from the world of men.They knew that the Traveller was outside waiting for one of them to answer his call,but they stand still assembling on the staircase.He feels their strangeness in his heart and their silence answering his cries.He stand there still and suddenly he pounds the door on last time shouting "Tell them I came and no one answered,that,I kept my word." His loud voice didn't stir the listeners,though every word spoken by his,felt echoing in the darkness of the still house.As the Traveller climbed his horse and put foot his foot on the stirrup,he looks back one last time and sped off on his horse.And when the sound of the horse's plunging hooves was gone,the silence of the house silently surged backwards.
The poem is a metaphor for the journey of life.We go through life seeking answers to many questions.But,we do not always wether we go looking for them in religion,science or in ourselves.The poem is metaphor for the reader's journey through life with all its unanswered questions.The Traveller calls out for answers but is met with silence.
When in life,we face troubles,we seek God,or knock at his door.This our spiritual self where we are Travellers in search for spiritual satisfaction.God becomes the Silent Listener.The horse depicts the baser nature that seeks physical satisfaction from life.
"The Listeners" describes a traveler who has come to knock on a moonlit door in an eerie, unknown place. He has come to keep an...