Summary of Poem

This poem is a story of Pan, the Greek and Roman god of wild
nature. In A Musical Instrument, Pan disrupts the river as he splashes
around, tearing golden lilies and scaring away dragonflies. He
uprooted a reed and began to saw a piece off, before hollowing out the
insides and boring holes along the reed to create an instrument. He
sat at the river’s bank and began to play, which drew the applause of
the other gods. His music also was so beautiful the lilies he destroyed
came back to life and the dragonflies that he scared away returned.
However, the other gods see the reed that was uprooted and cut, and
sigh in sadness, for the reed would never grow again.

Analysis

In the first and second stanzas of this poem, Pan displays his
beastly and wild nature as he causes a disturbance in the river. He
broke golden lilies into pieces, ruined the river, and caused the
dragonflies to scatter. The third line of the second stanza, “The limpid
water turbidly ran,” is a seeming contradiction as limpid means clear
and transparent, while turbid water is cloudy and muddy. This line
shows that the river water was normally clear and pure, but Pan’s
splashing and paddling made it all brown, muddy, and dirty. He also
yanked a tall reed from the bottom of the river, in order to make his
musical instrument.

The third stanza describes how Pan “hacked and hewed” at the
reed. Pan decimated the reed with a “hard bleak steel”. The use of
the word “patient” shows that the reed was extremely strong and
sturdy, and that it took Pan a long time to strip the leaves and cut a
part off. By the time he was done with the reed, one could not tell that
it had come from the river.

In the fourth stanza, the part Pan cut off is contrasted to its
former height by the second line, “How tall it stood in the river!”. Pan
then hollowed out the pith, or middle, of the reed, which was compared
to “the heart of a man”. This shows that the pith was vital to the
reed’s live, and Pan just ripped it out, killing the read. Pan then bore
holes along the side of the reed.

In the fifth stanza, Pan laughs, “This is the way…the only way…
to make sweet music.” This means that the destruction of the tall,
strong reed was necessary to produce a sweet melody. Pan then
began to play his newly crafted instrument.
 The sixth stanza describes the applause and compliments Pan
received from the other gods. The word “sweet” is used five times to
describe the music. His melodies were so beautiful that the sun did
not set, presumably because it wanted to keep hearing the music. The
lilies came back to life again, and the dragonflies that he previously
scared off came back to the river.

The seventh stanza begins reminding the reader that Pan is “half
a beast”, referring to the horns on his head and his goat legs. His
behavior in this stanza sets him apart from the other gods. He is
sitting at the riverbank laughing, while the other gods are saddened by
the loss and destruction of the reed, and its sacrifice for the music.

This poem shows the two sides of Pan: the beast and the god.
His beastly side is shown by his disruption of the river at the beginning
and his ruthlessness towards the lilies, dragonflies and the reed. His
beastly nature is furthered, as he feels no remorse or sadness for the
destroyed reed, as he sits by the river in good spirits while the other
gods “sigh for the cost and pain” of the loss of the reed. Pan’s godly
side is shown with his talent with the instrument. Greek and Roman
mythology often had stories of how his instrument was the panpipe,
which was made of several hollowed out reeds of different lengths
bound together in order of length. The player would blow across the
top of the reeds, producing different notes. However, this poem makes
no mention of different lengths, and only says “He cut it short”, which
tells us that there was only one cut, not several. Pan also notched
holes in the reed in this poem, but a panpipe has no holes in the reed.

Poetic Devices

Themes

This poem also makes references to the Industrial Revolution.

The actions of Pan show many people’s mentality towards nature.
They disregarded its beauty, its purity and its innocence. Instead,
nature was seen as a source of raw materials for the ever-growing
industrialism. As a result, nature was abused, forests obliterated for
lumber, animals mercilessly hunted and slaughtered, and fish over
harvested. Black smoke from factories filled the air, and toxic poison
was dumped into bodies of water. The only thing that mattered was
advancements in technology, increased production, and increased
trade.

One obvious theme is Greek and Roman mythology. The story

revolved around Pan, who was the Greek and Roman god of shepherds
and their flocks, pastures, woods, hunting, and rustic music. He was
depicted as a man with two horns on his head and had the legs of a
goat. His instrument was the pipe, made from a reed, and with it he
was able to play beautiful melodies. The poem mostly depicts his
beastly side, as he causes havoc in the river. In the last paragraph,
the poem says that he sat by the river while the true gods were
saddened. This hints that Pan was not a true god, and he was
somehow set apart from them.

Life is precious and delicate. Most notably, the reed represents

the fragility and innocence of life. The dragonflies and lilies are easily
scared away or broken by Pan’s torrent.

Simile

Simile is used in the fourth stanza in the line, “Then drew the
pith, like the heart of a man,”. The pith, or middle, of the reed is being
compared to a person’s heart using the word ‘like’. Pan’s hollowing of
the reed was similar to the ripping out of a person’s heart. This
suggests that the pith of the reed was vital to the reed’s life, and by
pulling the pith out; Pan took the life away from the reed, preventing it
from growing ever again.

Alliteration

Alliteration is used in many instances throughout the poem. It

occurs in the phrase “great god Pan”, which is the ending of the first
line of every stanza, with the exception of the fifth stanza, where this
phrase is found in the third line. Alliteration is in the third line of the
poem, “Spreading ruin and scattering ban”. The third stanza has three
instances of alliteration: “hacked and hewed”, “great god can”, and
“fresh from the river”. The final instance of alliteration is in the last
line of the poem, which states “As a reed with the reeds in the river.”

Imagery

The poem uses descriptive imagery to invoke in the reader a

sense of beauty and innocence that exists in nature. Descriptions such
as the dreaming dragonflies, the golden lilies, and the strong, sturdy
reeds shows the reader a vivid calm and peaceful river scene. It also
uses imagery to describe the ruthlessness and the destruction caused
by Pan, particularly how he tore apart the reed to make his instrument.

Personification
 “The sun on the hill forgot to die, and the lilies revived, and the
dragon-fly came back to dream on the river”. The human attributes of
death, revival, and dreaming are given to the sun, lilies and
dragonflies. Another instance of imagery is in the line “With his hard
bleak steel at the patient reed”. This gives the reed the ability of being
patient.