Ode (poem)
Ode is a poem written by the English poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy and first published in 1873.[1] It is often referred to by its first line We are the music makers.
The Ode is the first poem in O'Shaughnessy's collection Music and Moonlight (1874). It has nine stanzas, although it is commonly believed to be only three stanzas long. The opening stanza is:
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,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.[2]— Stanza 1
The phrase "movers and shakers" (now used to describe powerful and worldly individuals and groups) originates here.
The poem has been set to music, or alluded to, many times: Sir Edward Elgar set the ode to music in 1912 in his work entitled The Music Makers, Op 69. The work was dedicated to Elgar's old friend Nicholas Kilburn and the first performance took place at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival in 1912. Performances available include: The Music Makers, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1975 (reissued 1999), paired with Elgar's Dream of Gerontius; and the 2006 album Sea Pictures paired with The Music Makers, Simon Wright conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) also set the ode to music in his work Music Makers, dedicated to Merton College, Oxford on the occasion of its 700th anniversary in 1964.
Cultural references and parodies
- Scarling. has a song called "We Are the Music Makers." The line is said in the beginning of the chorus.
- Antonio Breschi’s track "Poem and Gig" from his album My Irish Portrait features the first three stanzas and is recited by Ronnie Drew.
- Joy Electric's 1996 album We Are the Music Makers is a reference to the first line.
- The poem is used in the introduction of Elizabeth Haydon's book The Assassin King.
- "Music Makers & Dreamers of Dreams" is a track off the album "As Above, So Below" by "Windmills".
- The Seo Linn song "Music Makers", commissioned by RTÉ for the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, is in Irish but uses much of the first stanza of "Ode" as its chorus in English.
- Three stanzas of the poem are referenced in "Black", a House track by Fabian Reichelt and Raycoux Jr. on the album Circle
- South African band, Gimp, performed a rock anthem of the poem in 2005 at Woodstock South Africa.
References
- ^ O'Shaughnessy, Arthur (4 October 1873). "An Ode". Appleton's Journal. New York, NY: D. Appleton & Company. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
- ^ O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar (1874). Music and Moonlight : poems and songs. London: Chatto and Windus. pp. 1–5.