Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none.”
Teacher: You think that is because of the things Wordsworth does not say, the fact that he keeps a certain amount to himself?
Pupil: Yes.
Teacher: That quality of reticence, isn’t it? How is it in modern times; have you noticed how you respect people who do not say quite all they feel; they keep their deepest feelings largely to themselves, and you can only guess at it by what is left unsaid? Are the kind of people who are represented in this poem the sort of people you ordinarily encounter in the old ballads?
Pupil: I don’t think we do; the chief characters were the nobles and barons, the highest people in England and Scotland.
Teacher: These people were what?
Pupil: Common people.
Teacher: You get that from what phrase in the poem? Any one?