author
Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
1844–1881
Best remembered for the stirring lines “We are the music makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams,” this Victorian poet also built a serious career in natural history. His life joined imagination and science in a way that still feels unusual and memorable.
1 Audiobook
An Epic of Women, and Other Poems
by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
About the author
Born in London in 1844, Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy was a British poet of Irish descent. He worked at the British Museum from a young age, first in the library and later in the zoological department, where he became a respected herpetologist specializing in reptiles and amphibians.
Alongside that scientific work, he published several books of poetry, including Music and Moonlight in 1874. That volume contains his best-known poem, often called "Ode," whose opening lines about music makers and dreamers have lived on far beyond the rest of his work.
O'Shaughnessy died in 1881 at just 36. Though his life was short, he left behind a reputation built on both literary charm and genuine scientific accomplishment, making him one of those rare 19th-century figures who moved easily between art and study.