LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM - WE THE MUSIC MAKERS | ISC CLASS 11 AND 12 | ENGLISH LITERATURE

“We are the music makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone
sea-breakers,

And sitting by desolate
streams; —

World-losers and world-forsakers,”

Moreover, it portrays a glimpse of the Pre-Raphaelite
movement where art is valued. The poet underlines the fact that art is eternal
and favours the idea of art for life’s sake. In other, words, art is what is
left of the world-music and dreams which continue to live. 5.Line by line
analysis of the poem

First
stanza

We are the music-makers,

And we are the dreamers of
dreams,

Wandering by lone
sea-breakers

And sitting by desolate
streams.

The first person plural with which the poem opens,
echo to the firm assertion of the artists and their art. The poem does not
mention a specific art form which gives the poem universal appeal. Music has
the power to transfer an individual from mundane realities to a world full of
dreams. The artists have the capability to create a utopia of their own through
their divine art. They are oddly escapists as they remain outside the active
world. They find solace in oblivion and wander about the lonely seashores and
desolate streams. It is a treatise to the artists across various realms. It
uses various euphemisms like “music makers”, “dreamers of dreams” to implore
artists and serenade their activities.

World-losers and
world-forsakers,

Upon whom the pale moon
gleams:

Yet we are the movers and
the shakers,

Of the world for ever, it
seems.

The artists are considered by the world as losers and
forsakers as they remain detached from worldly pursuits. The phrase the ‘movers
and shakers’, now a part of our daily language in different contexts, implies
that artists are rebels who shake the status quo. There is a sense of
despondence in every artist which serves to feed the fire in them and shape
their creativity in a creative form. They are referred to by the world as eccentric.
They play an active role in bringing about a revolutionary change in this earth

Second stanza

With wonderful deathless
ditties

We build up the world’s
great cities,

And out of a fabulous
story

We fashion an empire’s
glory:

The following lines bring out the power of
creativity. Men are mortal but their works transcend the concept of time and
space and create a lasting impact on the society. They build up great cities in
their arts and compose fabulous stories of a Dynasty’s glorious past.

One man with a dream, at
pleasure,

Shall go forth and conquer
a crown;

And three with a new
song’s measure

Can trample an empire
down.

The artists, on one hand, can weave glorious stories
of an empire’s glory whereas on the other hand, it can trample an empire down
in another song. Through his writing, a writer can give man the liberty to
“dream at pleasure” and to move forward to conquer a crown. If not directly,
then indirectly, they are the real leaders of the world.

Stanza
three

We, in the ages lying

In the buried past of the
earth,

Built Nineveh with our
sighing,

And Babel itself with our
mirth;

The poet alludes here to the Biblical cities of
Nineveh and Babel suggesting that the notion of art as almost angelic creation.
Nineveh was the flourishing capital of the Assyrian empire, founded by Nimrod
which was dilapidated and was never re-built. It had a tragic fall as the
people of Nineveh indulged in sinful acts. The tower of Babel was built to
reach heaven. It was a symbol of the unity of mankind and also human arrogance
to claim equality with God. God punished them by giving different languages and
confusing them. So, the tower of Babel was never completed. The poet’s purpose
here is to portray the fact that when artists were happy the built Babel and
when they were distressed they built a Nineveh. Nineveh and Babel, are symbolsof human rise and fall subsequently. Artists can create a myth and also
demolish them.

And O’erthrew them with
prophesying

To the old of the new
world’s worth;

For each age is a dream
that is dying,

Or one that is coming to
birth.

The lines bring out the cycle of rebirth in the sense
that when old artists perish, new artists will come with new myths. The sole
perspective of art never dies. Myths and dreams only take new shapes. The
utopia of the old world ‘prophesying’ the new world’s worth. Men are mortal but
their art lives forever and transcend the concept of time and space.

Finally, Edward Elgar states that ‘ The mainspring of
O’Shaughnessy’s Ode is the sense of progress, of never-ceasing change..’

Literary Devices

There are various
poetic devices in the poem. Some of them are discussed below:-

1. Assonance- Assonance
refers to the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sounds of
‘e’ in “And we are the dreams of dreams” and the sound of ‘i’ in “Built Nineveh
with our sighing”

2. Alliteration-It
is the close repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words.
For example:

·
With wonderful deathless ditties(w and d sounds)

·
And sitting by desolate streams(s sounds)

·
We are the music- makers(m and k sounds)

3. Metaphors-A comparison between
two different things is implied, but not clearly stated.

·
‘music – makers’ for creative artists

·
‘movers and shakers’ for artists who challenge
the status quo.

4. Enjambment- “Yet we are the
movers and shakers,

Of the world forever, it seems.”

5.Imagery- It is used to make readers perceive
things involving five senses.

·
“Shall go forth and conquer a crown;”

·
“And sitting by the desolate streams”