Poem Analysis: Night Voices

Answer the following question after reading the poem: Why is the speaker in the poem afraid?



Be sure your paragraph includes:

- A topic sentence that offers a clear and compelling answer to the question

- At least two brief and smoothly incorporated pieces of evidence that illustrate and support your claim

- A concluding sentence that elegantly wraps up the paragraph





"Night Voices"

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle



Father, father, who is that a-whispering?

Who is it who whispers in the wood?

You say it is the breeze

As it sighs among the trees,

But there’s someone who whispers in the wood.



Father, father, who is that a-murmuring?

Who is it who murmurs in the night?

You say it is the roar

Of the wave upon the shore,

But there’s someone who murmurs in the night.



Father, father, who is that who laughs at us?

Who is it who chuckles in the glen?

Oh, father, let us go,

For the light is burning low,

And there’s somebody laughing in the glen.



Father, father, tell me what you’re waiting for,

Tell me why your eyes are on the door.

It is dark and it is late,

But you sit so still and straight,

Ever staring, ever smiling, at the door.