Listeners

Name Period: IDeNTIFYING SUSPENSE IN LITeraTure Directions: Read and annotate the poem. As you read, underline the lines in the poem that create tension or suspense. Then, answer the questions. THe LISTeners By waLTer DE La Mare 1 'Is there anybody there? said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; RememBer THaT SUSPeNse is Fear And his horse in the silence champed the grasses OF THe unKnown. WHaT S THe Of the forest's ferny floor: unKnown THaT Causes SUSPense in S And a bird flew up out of the turret, THe FirST 6 Lines OF THe POem? Above the Traveller's head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; "Is there anybodythere? he said. But no one descended to the Travelleer; 10 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 2 CirCLe THe WorDS THaT CreaTe an eerie or unsertuinG TONe n THe That dwelt in the lone house then LInes i0-20. 15 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, 3. WHaT DO We Learn aT THe enD OF: That goes down to the empty hall, THe POem? WHaT EFFecCT DOES THIS Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken DISCOVery Have on THe reaDer? 20 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: 25 For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head: . AFTer readinG THE WHOLe POEM. Tell them I came, and no one answered, read THe TITLE aGain. HOW DOES That I kept my word, he said. THe TITLE aDD TO THE SUSPense of Never the least stir made the listeners, THe POem? 30 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, 35 And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.