Identifying key themes in 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare | English

Starter quiz

Which of the following words rhyme?
- moon, june ✓
- blue, time
- sea, free ✓
- dance, chance ✓
- heart, sharp
What is a possible definition of the poetic term, enjambment?
- when two adjectives are used to describe a noun
- speech that compares two different things using the words 'like' or 'as'
- when a line in poetry continues onto the next line without pause or punctuation ✓
- repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Match the following information from the poetry collection below.
- Title
  
  ⇔
  
  Cloud Soup ✓
- Poet
  
  ⇔
  
  Kate Wakeling ✓
- Illustrator
  
  ⇔
  
  Elina Braslina ✓
- Publisher
  
  ⇔
  
  The Emma Press ✓
True or False? Alliteration is when words start with the same letter and have to be next to one another.
- True
- False ✓
Which of the following are examples of poetic devices?
- personification ✓
- plain prose
- alliteration ✓
- rhyme ✓
- literal description
Which of the following is an example of personification?
- Wind rustles through willow branches
- Moonlit moments melted into mysteries
- The wind whispered secrets through trees ✓
- Dew-kissed petals in dawn's embrace
- The shadows danced on the walls ✓

Select the lines from 'The Listeners' which best match to auditory sense.
- "Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight" ✓
- "forest’s ferny floor"
- “Fell echoing through the shadowiness” ✓
- "Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes"
- “...sound of iron on stone” ✓
Match the sense to the type of imagery.
- touch
  
  ⇔
  
  tactile ✓
- taste
  
  ⇔
  
  gustatory ✓
- smell
  
  ⇔
  
  olfactory ✓
- hearing
  
  ⇔
  
  auditory ✓
- sight
  
  ⇔
  
  visual ✓
True or False? The narrative of the poem 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare is fully resolved at the end.
- True
- False ✓
Match the keywords to their definitions.
- theme
  
  ⇔
  
  an idea that the poet intends the audience to engage with ✓
- imagery
  
  ⇔
  
  the use of sensory language to create mental pictures ✓
- justify
  
  ⇔
  
  to show or prove something using evidence ✓
- sensory chart
  
  ⇔
  
  is a table where readers can note down sensory information ✓
Which of the following are themes that could be justified within the poem ‘The Listeners’?
- war and conflict
- isolation ✓
- humour
- the unexplained and unresolved ✓
- romance
Which of the following descriptions are used to describe the outside of the house?
- "forest's ferny floor" ✓
- "bird flew up out of the turret" ✓
- "a host of phantom listeners that dwelt in the lone house"
- "horse moved, cropping the dark turf" ✓
- "faint moonbeams on the dark stair"

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Asking questions about a poem can help identify key themes within it
There are several key themes in "The Listeners" including, the unknown, the supernatural, isolation and solitude
The Listeners portrays the strangeness of the world, and humankind's inability to fully understand it

Pupils may think that imagery appeals to just one of the senses.

Through interpretation, imagery in the poem may fall under more than one sense.

Theme - A theme is a central idea that the poet intends the audience to engage deeply with.
Imagery - Imagery involves the use of vivid and sensory language to create vivid mental pictures, enhancing the emotional impact of a poem.
Justify - To justify means to show or prove something using evidence.
Sensory chart - A sensory chart is a table where readers can note down sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures in a poem.