Source? "No answer came the stern reply"

[michae...@my-deja.com]

Hi,

Thanks to anyone who can help. Someone I know needs to find the source
for the line in the subject heading:

"no answer came the stern reply"

It sounds familiar to me, but distantly- really distantly. Any ideas?
And thanks again.

Michael Burns

Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/

[Richard Harding]

I could be all wrong, but is it possibly from the poem (by Walter
DelaMare) that begins

"Is there anybody there, said the traveller
Knocking at the moonlit door"

It's 35yrs since I saw the poem, but it rings a bell.

[Robert M. Wilson]

"Richard Harding" <rhar...@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:3A6F5A1C...@optonline.net...

> I could be all wrong, but is it possibly from the poem (by Walter
> DelaMare) that begins
>
> "Is there anybody there, said the traveller
> Knocking at the moonlit door"
>
> It's 35yrs since I saw the poem, but it rings a bell.
>
> >

> > Thanks to anyone who can help. Someone I know needs to find the source
> > for the line in the subject heading:
> >
> > "no answer came the stern reply"
> >
> > It sounds familiar to me, but distantly- really distantly. Any ideas?
> > And thanks again.

You are thinking of de la Mare's *The Listeners* which contains the lines:

"Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word," he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake.

[I wonder how many children these days have had the opportunity to feel the
wonder of his poems?]

[Sam Hobbs]

The short answer is that it appears that the answer is not readily
known, though a few of us would like to find out if anyone has
anything fresh to post. I only actually recall this coming up once
before on a.q (circa August last year). A quick deja search yields:

http://x57.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=664623771&CONTEXT=980402796.955711548&hitnum=2
where I previously posted the following on 8/31/2000 in response to an
8/30/2000 posting on "no answer ... stern reply"

<snip>
Some searches on google came up with a couple of promising sounding
references (not available online) as well as a suggestion that the
answer is not known. There are a couple of speeches using the phrase
from Parliament as well as some very recent uses in common parlance on
the web for an unsuccessful search and a couple of uses by computer
trainers.

There were about 25 hits on google using the search criteria:
"no answer" "stern reply"

==========
Reference and Users Service Quarterly
http://www.ala.org/rusa/rusq/exchange_index2.html
"No answer came the stern reply," 28:460
==========
Quote ... Unquote (a Nigel Rees radio show and newsletter)
http://www1c.btwebworld.com/quote-unquote/p0000058.htm
answer: no a. came the stern reply (Q352) 3.3.8, 3.4.4
==========
Best info:
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/lis-link/1998-06/0045.html

Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 16:54:29 GMT0BST
Priority: normal
Subject: Answer to Quotation Question
From: Lindsay K Potts <Pot...@cardiff.ac.uk>
To: lis-...@mailbase.ac.uk
Reply-to: Lindsay K Potts <Pot...@cardiff.ac.uk>

Hi,

So I have finally had a chance to put together all the answers I have
had about "no answer was the stern reply."

However it is not good news. No one has come up with the answer. This
quotation went to Ask a Librarian and someone even sent it to Quote
Unquote on Radio 4.

The nearest we got was Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland - the
Walrus and the Carpenter but when we read the quotation it was "but
answer came there none" which is not near enough.

Some people suggested a poem called A day in the life of a computer
trainer and while that has the correct line that is not where my
colleague knows it from.

So I am afraid to say that we have given up unsatisfied!
Lindsay Potts

Lindsay Potts
Computing/Information Officer
Information Services
Sir Herbert Duthie Library
UWCM
Heath Park
Cardiff
CF4 4XN
44 (0)1222 743140
==========
There is also an article on early church history at:
http://orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/religion/early/ORB-councils2.index.htm
which uses the phrase, but it doesn't appear to be the source
==========
House of Commons Hansard Debates for 19 Oct 1989
...Mr. Kinnock : No answer was the stern reply....
shows up at:
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm198889/cmhansrd/1989-10-19/Orals-2.html
==========
Lords Hansard text for 25 Feb 1997 (970225-03)
...noble Baroness for that Answer. I notice she gave no answer...
..that that was the proverbial stern reply? Does she agree that
the...
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199697/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds97/text/70225-03.htm

==========

It does look like the answer is no answer at all, which may make this
a particularly devilish and recursive quotation if I may make a bad
observation:

"No answer came the stern reply" to the query, from whence cometh "No
answer came the stern reply.

Sorry,
Regards,
Sam

[michae...@my-deja.com]

Many thanks to Richard, Robert, Sam, Lindsay Potts, and all else who
may have labored unsung to try to help.

You are all very kind to have tried to help.

I find the line too haunting to believe that its origin would have been
easily lost. I confess I don't actually know the person who needed the
source. (The query came from someone who was posting to Lantra-L, a
translator's e-mail group), but I was struck by the chilling, resonance
of it, and can't see myself leaving it alone.
I suppose that it must be from some lesser known pre-electronic source
which hasn't yet been thought worthy of transcription into bytes.
I'm in Paraguay, so there's no way I can conduct a "dusty shelf" search
in the near future. I suppose I'll note the non-online possible origins
mentioned, and wait til fortune throws me onto a more library-blessed
shore. Once again, thanks to everyone.

Michael Burns

In article <3a6fc2b0...@news.mindspring.com>,

[tmw]

This was one of my *dear ol' dads* oft quoted lines...shall keep my eyes
open :-)
OBQ
But answer came there none - / And this was scarcely odd because / They'd
eaten every one
.~Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
tmw
___________________________

[phil...@hotmail.com]

On Wednesday, January 24, 2001 11:49:46 PM UTC+1, Richard Harding wrote:
> I could be all wrong, but is it possibly from the poem (by Walter
> DelaMare) that begins
>
> "Is there anybody there, said the traveller
> Knocking at the moonlit door"
>
> It's 35yrs since I saw the poem, but it rings a bell.
>

> michael_burns wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Thanks to anyone who can help. Someone I know needs to find the source
> > for the line in the subject heading:
> >
> > "no answer came the stern reply"
> >
> > It sounds familiar to me, but distantly- really distantly. Any ideas?
> > And thanks again.
> >
> > Michael Burns
> >
> > Sent via Deja.com
> > http://www.deja.com/

Yes, Walter DelaMare's 'The Listeners'

[click...@gmail.com]

The Bunyip By Frances King

"Who am I," asked the Bunyip. "What am I doing here?"
"Please tell me," begged the Bunyip," for my purpose isn't clear."

"No answer!" came the stern reply; "You'll get no help from me!"
Poor Bunyip, he began to cry, "Doesn't anyone know me?"

And thus he went a-wandering, searching far and wide
For someone who could put an end to his longing, deep inside.

One day, he found a piece of glass, discarded by a lake.
He gazed into its surface ... OH! That was his big mistake!

For in that glass, he met Himself ... the image struck him dumb;
No-one could love that ugly mug! (Except perhaps his Mum ...)

So, overcome by black despair, the poor old Bunyip sobbed.
The tears poured down his warty cheeks, and ran into his gob.

He cried all night, and then all day, and then all night again.
The rain it poured, the wind it howled as if to voice his pain ...

Then suddenly emerged a shape, out of the Primal Soup,
Round and warty ... big and black ... The Bunyip was cock-a-hoop!

"Who am I?" asked the creature,
(In strangely girlish voice.)

The Bunyip's pulse began to race ...
His lumpy heart rejoiced ...

"What am I?" begged the creature.
"Oh! I WISH that I could see!"

"You're a Bunyip!" cried the Bunyip,
"And you look, ... well,

"Just like ME!"

[mikeedwar...@gmail.com]

I believe that this line is used a couple of times in the novels of PG Wodehouse. He was an inveterate user of tasty quotes from earlier authors and was probably not the originator. It would be worth posting the query on a Wodehouse forum because "Wodehouseians" have a good track record of tracking down his quotes. Mike edwards

[richar...@hearingandsightsolutions.org.uk]

There is a poem by Frances King called The Bunyip which uses these exact words. Not sure if it is the first use or if the poet is quoting something older.

[inga...@gmail.com]

Try "Wind In The Willows". By Kenneth Grahame

[inga...@gmail.com]

I thought it came from "Wind In The Willows" by Kenneth Grahame

[andes...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, January 24, 2001 at 10:27:12 PM UTC, michae...@my-deja.com wrote:

The Bunyip
“Who am I,” asked the Bunyip. “What am I doing here?”

“Please tell me,” begged the Bunyip,” for my purpose isn’t clear.”

“No answer!” came the stern reply; “You’ll get no help from me!”

Poor Bunyip, he began to cry, “Doesn’t anyone know me?”

[SteveMR200]

On Mon, 25 Jun 2018 03:37:06 -0700 (PDT), andes...@gmail.com wrote
in message: <e6a493ab-02a3-4ecc...@googlegroups.com>:

>The Bunyip
>
>"Who am I," asked the Bunyip.
>"What am I doing here?"
>"Please tell me," begged the Bunyip,

>"For my purpose isn't clear."

If you want to know why you were placed on this
planet, you must begin with God. You were born
by his purpose and for his purpose.

The search for the purpose of life has puzzled
people for thousands of years. That's because
we typically begin at the wrong starting point--
ourselves.

We ask self-centered questions like "What do I want
to be?" "What should I do with my life?" "What are
my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?"

But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our
life's purpose. The Bible says, "It is God who
directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's
life is in His power." (Job 12:10 TEV)

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and
seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's
meaning by looking within yourself. You've probably
tried that already. You didn't create yourself, so
there is no way you can tell yourself what you were
created for!

If I handed you an invention you had never seen
before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the
invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you
either. Only the creator or the owner's manual
could reveal its purpose.

I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to
ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, "You
can't get there from here. You must start from the
other side of the mountain!"

In the same way, you cannot arrive at your life's
purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You
must begin with God, your Creator. You exist only
because God wills that you exist.

You were made by God and for God--and until you
understand that, life will never make sense.
It is only in God that we discover our origin,
our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our
significance, and our destiny. Every other
path leads to a dead end.

--Rick Warren (1954- )
_The Purpose Driven Life_ [2002], Chapter 1

--
Steve

[Lucas Ramieux]

From Frances King, the author:


Go!

Find her.
It’s okay,
Make her happy …

(Stay!)

Gone.

Left me.
Gone away.
Doesn’t hurt now …

(Lie!)

==> Frances King, Confession,
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/confession_165086, accessed 28 June
2018

==================
Lucas Ramieux
"Memento mori; Live purposefully"

[hu...@aruncoaches.co.uk]

My mother was an avid reader, and when I was a child I remember her reading this to me. It was a very long time ago, but I'm sure it was a quote in response to a telegram. The boy delivered the telegram, and the recipient replied "No answer".

[rhh...@gmail.com]

I think it is from Beatrix Potter.