‘Music’ is a poem that attempts to describe the indescribable. Yet, in its ambition, the three-stanza poem creates a spiritually compelling vision of how music consumes and inspires us to see the world differently.
Mare employs a variety of effulgent and energizing imagery to convey the way everything from the natural world to the human mind and soul is inflamed when listening to such ravishing melodies and harmonies.
Music Walter de la MareWhen music sounds, gone is the earth I know,And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;Her flowers in vision flame, her forest treesLift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.When music sounds, out of the water riseNaiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes,Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,With solemn echoing stirs their dwelling-place.When music sounds, all that I was I amEre to this haunt of brooding dust I came;And from Time's woods break into distant songThe swift-winged hours, as I hasten along.
Summary
‘Music’ by Walter de la Mare is a poem that celebrates the euphoric and ethereal effects of music.
‘Music’ serves as an ode to how the art form can be a powerful emotional catalyst. The poem unfolds over the course of three stanzas as the speaker describes the music’s effect on them. “When music sounds,” the auditory beauty appears to change the world around them, making that which is lovely “even lovelier.” The speaker points out elements of nature that become ardent and kinetic as flowers “flame,” and forests are “stilled with ecstasies.”
The speaker then turns their attention toward the effects of the music on another element of the natural world: water. The otherworldly power of the music inspires a new vision in the speaker as they describe seeing “Naiads” rise out of the water with a beauty that “dims [their] waking eyes.” Even these spirits are stirred by the music, as the speaker reports that they are “rapt in strange dreams,” entranced by the music that resounds throughout the watery depths they live within.
Finally, the speaker looks inward at the music’s effect on themselves. “All that I was I am,” they pronounce, describing how the music leads to self-reflection but also its rejuvenating properties. As the “swift-winged hours” begin to sing within “Time’s woods,” the poem ends with the speaker expressing the way the music lends his life a certain earnestness.
Structure and Form
‘Music’ is composed of three quatrains with a rhyme scheme of ‘AABB CCDD EEFF.’ Most of the lines in the poem are written in iambic pentameter, with the exception of two lines. This adds to the lyrical quality of the poem’s cadence while also echoing the music it is written about. Each quatrain is organized around a defining effect of the music on a specific aspect of the world around the speaker or themselves.
Literary Devices
‘Music’ makes use of a variety of imagery and figurative language. There is auditory imagery: “When music sounds” (1); “With solemn echoing stir their dwelling-place” (8). Visual imagery: “All her lovely things even lovelier grow;” (2); “Her flowers in vision flame,” (3); “Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,” (7) As well as kinesthetic imagery: “as I hasten along” (12).
De la Mare also used personification: “her forest trees / Lift burdened branches, still with ecstasies” (3-4); “And from Time’s woods break into distant song / The swift-winged hours” (11-12) as well as metaphor: “This haunt of brooding dust I came;” (10).
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
When music sounds, gone is the earth I know,
And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;
Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees
Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.
‘Music’ begins each of its stanzas with the repetition of the same phrase: “When music sounds” (1). What follows the anaphora is a description of the music’s effect on the speaker’s perception. “Gone is the earth I know” (1), they declare, illustrating the way the sound envelops their senses. But music also has the ability to transform the world around them.
Mare’s personified imagery evokes spiritual bliss as flowers start to “flame” (3) and “forest trees” (3) raise their branches like arms as they are “stilled with ecstasies” (4). With the arrival of music, the whole world comes radiantly to life in a surreal and ethereal manner as both the speaker and the natural world become enraptured and reverent toward the sounds.
Stanza Two
When music sounds, out of the water rise
Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes,
Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,
With solemn echoing stirs their dwelling-place.
In the second stanza of ‘Music,‘ the speaker continues to rhapsodize about its effects. Turning their attention away from the exultant flora, they witness a truly sublime sight as “out of the water rise / Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes” (5-6). The appearance of these spirits from Greek mythology adds to the dreamlike atmosphere created by the music while also emphasizing its ability to cause the natural world to spring to life.
As the speaker continues to observe the Naiads, they describe the way they, too, are consumed by the sounds: “Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face” (7). This is because they can hear the music underwater, too — coming as a “solemn echoing [that] stirs their dwelling place” (8). As with the last stanza, this one vividly reveals how the music alters the world in fantastical and mesmeric ways into a landscape overflowing with vivacious magic. It also continues to underscore the awed adoration both nature and humans have for such artful sounds.
Stanza Three
When music sounds, all that I was I am
Ere to this haunt of brooding dust I came;
And from Time’s woods break into distant song
The swift-winged hours, as I hasten along.
The final stanza of ‘Music’ sees the speaker looking inward to describe the music’s effect on their own mind and spirit. Here the language becomes more ambiguous as Mare employs figurative language to try and convey the ineffable. In hearing the music, the speaker declares: “All that I was I am / Ere to this haunt of brooding dust I came” (10-11).
One interpretation might see this statement as a profession of the way music inspires introspection, with the speaker finding themselves reunited in a sense with past selves or memories that are conjured up by the melodies floating around them. The second part of that quote might be interpreted as a metaphor for being born on Earth: the “haunt” referring to the planet as a place we all habitually live in (but it also invites the images of spirits haunting the world around us), while the phrase “brooding dust” emphasizes a certain pensiveness over death.
The essential point of these images is to invoke the music’s ability to ignite something in those that hear it as the speaker feels urged to remember parts of themselves that they may have forgotten or neglected. This sense of earnestness is also expressed in the poem’s final lines, which paint a scene of personified passion as “from Time’s woods break into distant song / The swift-winged hours” (11-12). The image insinuates that now all the hours of the speaker’s days are filled with celebratory music.
FAQs
The poem’s theme is a reverent appreciation of music that places the art form on par with spiritual transcendence and rapture. Throughout the poem, Mare’s diction and use of figurative language create parallels to religious worship (both Catholic and pagan). The poem serves as a passionate ode to music’s ardent ability to enrich not just the world around us but ourselves as well.
Mare clearly wrote the poem over their own deep appreciation for music. In this way, their verse is exceptionally timeless and representative of the way art is such a staple of human existence. The poem itself seems to argue as much in its attempt to entangle music with nature and spirituality.
The naiads are a type of female water spirit or nymph that originate from Greek mythology. They were depicted as living in fresh bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, wells, and even fountains. Despite being characterized as exceptionally beautiful creatures, they were also known to be extremely dangerous and even treacherous.
Because Mare’s poem is about music, it makes sense it contains its own distinct rhythm. But the repetition of the line “When music sounds” has a variety of effects that aren’t just relegated to the poem’s cadence. In beginning each line this way, the poem’s narrative voice is made all the more momentous and ecstatic. While also echoing a kind of religious prayer or chant.
Similar Poems
Check out these other poems by Walter de la Mare below:
- ‘All But Blind’ – this poem peers into the way people are metaphorically blind to different things.
- ‘Some One’ – this dreamlike poem follows the arrival of a stranger to a solitary cabin.
- ‘Winter’ – this poem illustrates a beautiful winter scene that is admired by the speaker.
