To what extent are the reader's questions answered in"The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare"On the Departure Platform" by Thomas Hardy"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley"The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy

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To what extent are the reader’s questions answered in

"The Listeners" by Walter de la Mare

"On the Departure Platform" by Thomas Hardy

"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy

          In "The Listeners" there are many questions.  To these, there could be numerous answers.  Firstly, the Traveller’s true identity is disclosed.  All we know is that he is male.

“From the one man left awake:”  [Line 32]

          This shows he is definitely male and the fact that he is only referred to as ‘the Traveller’ and ‘he’ makes the reader more inquisitive and read the rest of the poem in hope of uncovering the true identity of the traveller.  This question is not answered.  

          Another question raised is why he went there and what was his ‘word’?

“‘Tell them that I came, and that no one answered,

That I kept my word,’ he said”  [Lines 27 + 28]

          This question is not answered either.  It adds to the effect of mystery in the poem also the effect of everything being anonymous.  Information about the Traveller and the listeners is left untold.  I think the traveller is somehow aware of the presence of the listeners because lines 27-28 contain speech directed at the listeners.

          This poem is very descriptive in certain areas though, despite keeping the reader in the dark about the Traveller and the listeners.  For example, the house and the surrounding area is described in a lot of detail, as is the effect the Traveller has on the atmosphere and the sound aspect of the poem.

“Stood thronging in the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,

That goes down to the empty hall,”  [Lines 17 + 18]

          This is an example of the type of description of the house.  It gives a strong impression of silence, emptiness and nothing being whole.

          Continuing the theme of the Traveller disrupting the tranquillity of the scene, he starts off fairly calm.

“‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,

knocking on the moonlit door”  [Lines 1 + 2]

          As the word ‘moonlit’ is included, the mood of the poem is not really affected.  It does not detract from the harmonious atmosphere because of this and also, the reader begins to wonder who the traveller is instead of noticing the disturbance.  However, in the 7th line the Traveller knocks on the door again but this time it says,

Join now!

“…smote upon the door, …”  [Line 7]

          ‘Smote’ is a more powerful word for knocked and suggests the Traveller knocked harder.  This disrupts the mood more.  Before that, the general mood was very calm and gentle, signified by the ‘forest’s ferny floor’.

          In line 25 the poem says,

“For suddenly he smote on the door, even

Louder, and lifted his head:- ”

          The word ‘suddenly’ indicates sudden movement which until then in the poem didn’t exist.  Also, the word ‘smote’ is repeated again and ...

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