THE LISTENERS

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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
Lean'd over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplex'd ad still.

i) Why did the traveller smite upon the door the second time?Explain. (3)

ii) What was the response to the traveller's call? (3)

iii) How did the traveller feel after getting no response from inside the house? (3)

iv) What type of atmosphere does the poet build up in this extract? (3)

v) Who were 'the listeners'?Where did they stand?What message did the traveller leave? (4)

Question

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i) The traveller wanted to meet someone in the house. Thus, he knocked in the first place. But when he received no reply, he hit the door a second time, thinking that whoever was inside the house must have gone to sleep during the night, and must not have heard the traveller knocking as he was in deep sleep.Thus, to make the people in the house aware that he is there to meet them, the traveller knocked a second time.

ii)There was absolutely no response to the traveller's call.Only a few phantom listeners stood silently on the moonlit staircase aware of the air disturbed by his voice.

iii)The traveller felt the strange presence of the phantoms in his heart and wished to go away from the spooky place.

iv)The poet masterfully weaves an eerie and sppoky atmosphere. We too feel that the house is haunted by some phantoms.

v)The listeners were the phantoms standing on the moonlit staircase inside the house.The traveller left a mysterious message-"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That i kept my word"