Here is your short summary of the Poem “Some One” by Walter de la Mare:
Walter De Mare has written this poem in an exceptionally simplistic style which is meant for both adults and children. The traveler’s story has been presented in a dreamlike manner where a traveler is knocking at the door of a living place which is abandoned.
The depth of the story is more than simple words of the poem. The traveler may be symbolic of a lonely person who has a dream in his eyes and is able to reach through it to some empty space where no one is able to listen or respond to him. This reflects his lonely state of mind and the hollowness and non-responsiveness of his dream is indeed an interpretation of the fact that he has no one to accompany him.
The phantom listeners that dwell in the lonely house are actually some ghosts or destructors of humanity who come to attack the heavenly earth when humanity sleeps. It could also mean those Gods who are able to hear the voices of human souls but never respond. They are silent even though they are listening to the troubles of mankind.
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Thus, the silence has a very deep-rooted meaning where a reader may even imagine a listener who is sleeping or in sub conscious state and penetrating through darkness of his own inner self. With nights going darker, the traveler’s knock becomes intense as if he is trying to prove his existence. No one recognizes the traveler even though he had come there keeping the promise that he had made.
The poet has used visionary illumination to represent mortality. There is a sense of mystery that prevails through the poem. The fantasy also takes the reader to a supernatural world at times. His thoughtfulness is depicted in his poem where he takes the reader away from the perceived reality and in a way lets them explore the world more profoundly using their own imagination.
One may read this poem as a fantasy to the children that make it look very simple. The other interpretation is that of an abandoned house where the bird flies from the turret into the night sky. It is to represent the unworldly place which is beyond the child’s imagination and has an element of mystery and evil associated with it.
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The poet drifts the listener between the states of sleep and awake to present the waiting state of the soul. There is also spiritual meaning to the verses where waiting of the soul to meet the All Mighty has been represented through the silence of the God who never speaks even when present. The soul struggles to listen to the inner voice and seek the unity with God.
The traveler is metamorphic with the human who wanders in the world and even when his soul is able to reach the God, he is unable to ascertain if God exists. He is not able to listen to God’s voice and therefore keeps waiting.