New
New
Year 5

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

I can identify and justify the key themes in ‘The Listeners’.

New
New
Year 5

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

I can identify and justify the key themes in ‘The Listeners’.

Lesson details

Key learning points

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

Common misconception

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.

Keywords

  • 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.

Teachers may wish to adapt the sensory descriptors to be 'hearing', 'touch', 'smell', 'taste' and 'sight'.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following words rhyme?
Correct answer: moon, june
blue, time
Correct answer: sea, free
Correct answer: dance, chance
heart, sharp
Q2.
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'
Correct answer: when a line in poetry continues onto the next line without pause or punctuation
repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Q3.
Match the following information from the poetry collection below.
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer:Title,Cloud Soup

Cloud Soup

Correct Answer:Poet,Kate Wakeling

Kate Wakeling

Correct Answer:Illustrator,Elina Braslina

Elina Braslina

Correct Answer:Publisher,The Emma Press

The Emma Press

Q4.
True or False? Alliteration is when words start with the same letter and have to be next to one another.
Correct Answer: False, false
Q5.
Which of the following are examples of poetic devices?
Correct answer: personification
plain prose
Correct answer: alliteration
Correct answer: rhyme
literal description
Q6.
Which of the following is an example of personification?
Wind rustles through willow branches
Moonlit moments melted into mysteries
Correct answer: The wind whispered secrets through trees
Dew-kissed petals in dawn's embrace
Correct answer: The shadows danced on the walls
Q3 Cloud Soup, Kate Wakeling, Elina Braslina, The Emma Press

6 Questions

Q1.
Select the lines from 'The Listeners' which best match to auditory sense.
Correct answer: "Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight"
"forest’s ferny floor"
Correct answer: “Fell echoing through the shadowiness”
"Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes"
Correct answer: “...sound of iron on stone”
Q2.
Match the sense to the type of imagery.
Correct Answer:touch,tactile

tactile

Correct Answer:taste,gustatory

gustatory

Correct Answer:smell,olfactory

olfactory

Correct Answer:hearing,auditory

auditory

Correct Answer:sight,visual

visual

Q3.
True or False? The narrative of the poem 'The Listeners' by Walter de la Mare is fully resolved at the end.
Correct Answer: False, false
Q4.
Match the keywords to their definitions.
Correct Answer:theme,an idea that the poet intends the audience to engage with

an idea that the poet intends the audience to engage with

Correct Answer:imagery, the use of sensory language to create mental pictures

the use of sensory language to create mental pictures

Correct Answer:justify,to show or prove something using evidence

to show or prove something using evidence

Correct Answer:sensory chart, is a table where readers can note down sensory information

is a table where readers can note down sensory information

Q5.
Which of the following are themes that could be justified within the poem ‘The Listeners’?
war and conflict
Correct answer: isolation
humour
Correct answer: the unexplained and unresolved
romance
Q6.
Which of the following descriptions are used to describe the outside of the house?
Correct answer: "forest's ferny floor"
Correct answer: "bird flew up out of the turret"
"a host of phantom listeners that dwelt in the lone house"
Correct answer: "horse moved, cropping the dark turf"
"faint moonbeams on the dark stair"

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