A traveler comes into the forest one night and knocks on
a moonlit door. He asks, "Is there anybody there?" The first line of
the poem raises many questions in our head. As to who is this traveler and what
is he doing in the forest knocking on the door of a dilapidated house. But the
questions remain unanswered till the end of this poem. And that''''s the amazing
thing of this poem... the result of the so much appreciation and popularity of
this poem.
The traveler keeps on knocking but he doesn''''t get any answer, only a
host of phantoms residing in the building hears his voice. The traveler also
feels their presence but cannot converse with them.
Lastly the traveler says to tell them he had come and kept his promise and goes away from the forest. The silence again prevails in the setting. The poet tries to tell us that humans try to find about the mysteries of life and death but they are left in that curious state always. The traveler looking up at the end of the poem symbolises the fact that only God has the right to know the mysteries of Life and Death. This is the main theme of the poem. The poem has a steady rythm and abab rhyming scheme. This is one of the best English poem known till date on supernatural themes.