Wandering Singers
Summary
The poem is about a band of folk singers who wander from
one place to another to spread the message of love through
their singing. These vagrant singers have no fixed abode or
home. They are peregrine, ambling around, singing songs
on different subjects. They consider themselves beckoned
by the wind to wander, regardless of direction or
destination. Be it through streets or through forests, their
songs echo and brim through the air.
Their singing is accompanied by the tunes played on the
lute. The theme of these songs vary, dating back to the time
of ancient battles and old kings and their stories; there are
songs about the cities that were once glorious (but are not
so any more), of happy and beautiful people, and matters
pertaining to the present, too. They are all storytellers who
weave stories through their tunes.
These wandering singers have no family or fixed home.
They are vagabond citizens who consider everyone as their
family and the whole world their home. They do not dream
and plan their lives the same way other people do as their
lives do not follow a fixed, regular pattern. Their destiny is
as transient as the ever-changing direction of the wind.
They are not held back or made to settle down by love,
happiness or other bonds and attachments like other
people. They are content with their wandering lifestyle and
are happy to forever go any way the wind blows.
Poetic Devices
1.Personification – the wind has been personified. (Wind
calls)
2. Alliteration
3.Metaphor – voice of the wind refers to changing seasons
or changing times.
Street refers to cities, forests refer to villages.
4. Rhyme scheme- aabb
5.Repetition – “the voice of the wind”, “old battles – old
kings”, “bids us tarry – bids us wait”
6.Transferred epithet- echoing forest, echoing street,
wandering feet.
7. Metonymy: refers to a figure of speech in which the
word for one thing is used to refer to something related
to that thing – sword refers to the soldiers, crown refers to
kings.
Stanza 1
Where the voice of the wind calls our wandering feet,
Through echoing forest and echoing street,
With lutes in our hands ever-singing we roam,
All men are our kindred, the world is our home.
In the first stanza, the wandering singers say that they roam where the voice
of the wind calls their feet. The word wind is symbolic here. It perhaps refer
to changing seasons or even the changing times. Calling the wandering
feet means asking them to accompany it (the wind). In other words, they
wander wherever the wind goes.
The wandering singers travel through the echoing forest and the echoing
street with lutes in their hands and always keep singing. Here, echoing
forest mean the villages which are full of hustle and bustle.
Similarly, echoing street refers to the cities which are again full of life.
According to the wandering singer, all the humans on earth are their family
and the whole world is their home. In other words, they do not have a
family of their own or even a home. They rather consider themselves to be
the citizen of the world.
Stanza 2
Our lays are of cities whose lustre is shed,
The laughter and beauty of women long dead;
The sword of old battles, the crown of old kings,
And happy and simple and sorrowful things.
In this stanza, the wandering singers tell us what they exactly sing about.
According to them, their lays (songs) are of cities whose lustre i.e. glory is
shed i.e. gone. They also sing of laughter and beauty (i.e. cheerful life) of
women who died long ago.
They sing of sword of old battles (i.e. wars and battles) and also the crown
of the old kings (i.e. kings, their rule and their time). And also, they sing
of happy (joyful), simple and even sorrowful things which means they sing
of past as well as of present. They sing of those who are gone long ago and
also of the present.
Stanza 3
What hope shall we gather, what dreams shall we sow?
Where the wind calls our wandering footsteps we go.
No love bids us tarry, no joy bids us wait:
The voice of the wind is the voice of our fate.
The wandering singers then raise a rhetorical question. They wonder what
hope and dreams they should have. Hope and dreams are for those who
think of achieving something (worldly things). But they (wandering singers)
do not have any desire. Hence they do not have dreams.
They go wherever the wind goes. No love bids them tarry i.e. the love never
leaves them. They always feel loved by the nature. And no joy
bids them wait i.e. the joy never makes them for it. They always enjoy
because the voice of the wind is the voice of their fate i.e. the fate of the
wind is their fate as well.
Summary
The poem is about a band of folk singers who wander from town to town and from
village to village to spread the message of love through their singing. These
wandering singers have no fixed abode or home. they are forever on the road,
listening to the voice of the wind that leads them to new places. Whichever path
they choose to travel by, be it through streets or through forests, is filled with the
echo of their songs.
They play lutes as they roam from place to place. The theme of these songs goes
back to the time of ancient battles and old kings and tell their stories. They also sing
about the cities that were once glorious (but not any more), of happy and beautiful
people who died a long time ago and of other happy and sad things. They are all
storytellers and their songs tell their stories for them.
These wandering singers have no family or home. They are citizens of the world who
consider everyone their family and the whole world their home. They do not dream
and plan the same way other people do as their lives do not follow a fixed, regular
pattern. Their destiny is as changeable as the forever changing direction of the wind.
They are not held back by love, happiness or other bonds of family like other
people.They love their wandering lifestyle and are happy to go where the wind takes
them and travel till the end of time.
