Page 35 - English Expedition Class 6

Not that I am afraid of being there,
In the little green orchard; • Do you think the speaker is a child or an
Why, when the moon’s been bright, adult? Why?
4
Shedding her lonesome light, • Does the mysterious presence emerge
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And moths like ghosties come, only at night?
And the horned snail leaves home: • Where is the shadow hiding?
I’ve sat there, whispering and listening there, • What fi lls the fl ower cups?
In the little green orchard. • What is the sound made by the
blackbird?

Only it’s strange to be feeling there, • Why does the narrator compare the
In the little green orchard; moths to ‘ghosties’?
Whether you paint or draw, • Do you fi nd the poem spooky? Why?
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Dig, hammer, chop or saw ;
When you are most alone,
All but the silence gone . . .
Someone is waiting and watching there,
In the little green orchard.

Walter John de la Mare (1873–1956) was a British poet and novelist. Many of
his poems are about the fantasies created by a child’s active imagination: fairy
worlds of magic and mystery.

Comprehension

A. Tick the most suitable answer to the following questions.

1. Whom does the speaker refer to in the line ‘Someone is always sitting there’?
a. a child b. an animal

c. a supernatural being d. a snail
2. How does the droning of the bees sound?
a. loud b. irritating

c. soft d. high-pitched

4 lonesome: alone and unhappy 6 saw (v): cut wood or other hard material using a saw
5 ghostie: ghost
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