Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881) was a British poet best known for his much-anthologized “Ode.” O’Shaughnessy became a copyist in the library of the British Museum at age 17 and later became a herpetologist in the museum’s zoological department. He published four volumes of verse—An Epic of Women (1870), Lays of France (1872), Music and Moonlight (1874), and Songs of a Worker (1881)—and, with his wife, a volume of stories for children, Toyland (1875). O’Shaughnessy was strongly influenced by the artists and writers of the Pre-Raphaelite group, by contemporary French poetry, and by Algernon Charles Swinburne. O’Shaughnessy is chiefly remembered for the otherworldly later work that links him with the Symbolist movement. Source

excerpt from "Ode"

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.

With wonderful deathless ditties

We build up the world's great cities,

And out of a fabulous story

We fashion an empire's glory:

One man with a dream, at pleasure,

Shall go forth and conquer a crown;

And three with a new song's measure

Can trample a kingdom down.

A breath of our inspiration

Is the life of each generation;

A wondrous thing of our dreaming

Unearthly, impossible seeming —

The soldier, the king, and the peasant

Are working together in one,

Till our dream shall become their present,

And their work in the world be done.

Published:

1873

Length:

Regular

Literary Movements:

Symbolism

Anthology Years:

2025

Themes:

Agency

Faith & Hope

Music & Sports

Poetic Form

Strength & Resilience