Arthur O’Shaughnessy is probably known best for his lines “We are the music makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams” from the poem “Ode,” lines which were made famous when Gene Wilder quoted them in “Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.” The author was born on this day March 14, 1844 in London, England.
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.
-Arthur O’Shaughnessy, excerpt from “Ode”
