Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844–81,) fully Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy, was a British poet and herpetologist. His most celebrated poem is the often-anthologized “Ode” (“We are the music-makers.”)
Born of Irish extraction in London, O’Shaughnessy began work in the British Museum at age 17, moving to the natural history department in 1863, where he served as a herpetologist, working on reptiles and amphibians.
An associate of the Pre-Raphaelites, O’Shaughnessy published An Epic of Women (1870,) Lays of France (1872,) Music and Moonlight (1874,) and Songs of a Worker (1881.) O’Shaughnessy is chiefly remembered for the otherworldly later work that connects him with the Symbolist movement.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
We are the music makers,
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;
We are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
—Arthur O’Shaughnessy
Topics: Music, Creativity
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.
—Arthur O’Shaughnessy
Topics: Motivation
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