The Hermit by Alan Paton
I have barred the doors
Of the place where I bide,
I am old and afraid
Of the world outside.
How the poor souls cry
In the cold and the rain,
I have blocked my ears,
They shall call me in vain.
If I peer through the cracks
Hardly daring draw breath,
They are waiting there still
Patient as death.
The maimed and the sick
The tortured of soul,
Arms outstretched as if
I could help them be whole.
No shaft of the sun
My hiding shall find,
Go tell them outside
I am deaf, I am blind.
Who will drive them away,
Who will ease me my dread,
Who will shout to the fools
'He is dead! he is dead!'?
Sometimes they knock
At the place where I hide,
I am old, and afraid
Of the world outside.
Do they think, do they dream
I will open the door?
Let the world in
And know peace no more?
Questions
Pre-writing exercise: Imagine you are a hermit. Say why you retreated from the world, and how you spend your day. (� page)
- Find synonyms for the following words from the poem:
- barred
- bide
- maimed
- dread
- In the second stanza he says they will call him 'in vain'. Why?
- In the fifth stanza he says he is blind and deaf. Quote from the poem to show that he is not really blind or deaf.
- Why does the hermit think the people outside are 'fools'? (sixth stanza)
- The poet says, "Who will ease me my dread...?" Who do you think he is talking to?
- The hermit says he is afraid of the world outside. Quote from the poem to show what he is afraid of.
- Quote a line from the last stanza which suggests that the hermit will never open the door.
Group Discussion: Alan Paton was the leader of the Liberal Party in South Africa, which opposed Apartheid. He was well known for his opposition to racial descrimination. In what way does this poem show us Paton's political ideas? Clue:-Who is running away from what?!
