The Power of Music is a comic poem by the great Bengali writer of nonsense verse, Sukumar Ray. Its hero — or rather its comic villain — is Bhishma Lochan Sharma, a man who loves to sing but whose voice is so enormously loud and harsh that it causes chaos wherever it is heard.
When summer comes, Bhishma Lochan begins to sing, and his voice carries over huge distances — from Delhi all the way to Burma. People are dazed; some faint or fall ill; they beg him to stop. Carts overturn, horses stand stunned, animals collapse with their feet in the air, birds flip upside down in mid-flight, fish dive to the bottom of the lake in search of silence, trees crash, grand houses tumble — even the sky seems to weep. Nothing and nobody can stop him.
Then, at last, a billy goat arrives — a wise fellow. It lowers its horns, charges straight at the singer and answers his bellowing with its own. The song is scattered, Bhishma Lochan falls silent, and the world receives the precious gift of silence.
The title is ironic: the "power" of this music is not to delight or soothe, but to destroy. The poem is pure fun — a riot of exaggeration, sound and absurd images — but it also gently mocks people who inflict their talents on others without caring how others feel.
Foundation first
Five ideas explain why this poem is funny and why it still has a point.
- Nonsense verse. Humorous poetry that enjoys absurd events, impossible pictures and playful sounds. Its fun comes from telling the impossible in a serious voice, as if it were ordinary news.
- Hyperbole. Deliberate exaggeration. A voice that reaches "from Delhi to Burma" is hyperbole. (Burma is the old name of Myanmar.) No singer could be heard so far, and the poet knows it. The exaggeration tells us how unbearable the voice is.
- Mock-heroic. A grand name or grand style used for a small subject, to make us smile. Bhishma was a mighty hero of the Mahabharata, and the name also suggests "fearsome". Giving it to a bad singer is a joke.
- Irony. A gap between what we expect and what happens. We expect "the power of music" to mean beautiful, healing music. Here the power is to destroy.
- Gentle satire. Making fun of a human fault to make us think. The fault here is not singing. It is doing what you love without caring how others feel.
Why this matters to you. Think of a loudspeaker blaring all night in the neighbourhood the week before your exams. The owner is enjoying himself, and everyone else is suffering. Bhishma Lochan is that person, made a thousand times larger so that we laugh instead of lose our temper.
Worked examples
Example 1 (MCQ with a twist; ICSE 2026, Q1(xvi)). Sukumar Ray's poem, "The Power of Music", can be classified as (a) nonsense verse (b) a sonnet (c) a lyrical poem (d) an ode.
Solution. (a). The poem is comic, absurd and exaggerated. A sonnet has fourteen lines. A lyrical poem expresses the poet's personal feeling, and an ode praises its subject seriously. This poem does neither.
Example 2 (summary, 2 marks). Summarise the poem in about 30 to 40 words.
Model answer. Every summer Bhishma Lochan Sharma sings so loudly that people, animals, birds, trees and houses suffer. Nobody can stop him until a wise billy goat charges at him. The song ends, and the world receives the gift of silence.
Why this scores: one mark for the problem (the singer and the chaos) and one for the solution (the goat and the silence).
Example 3 (3 marks). Why is the title "The Power of Music" ironic?
Model answer. The title leads us to expect music that delights or soothes. But Bhishma Lochan's singing has the power to destroy. It makes people ill, overturns carts, fells trees and makes the sky weep. The title says the opposite of what the poem shows, which is why it is ironic.
Why this scores: what we expect (1 mark); what the poem shows, with an example (1 mark); the clear statement of opposites (1 mark).
Doubts cleared
Q. Is the poem against music? No. It laughs at a person who ignores other people's comfort. Music is not the fault. The lack of consideration is.
Q. Do I write about it as an English poem? It is a translation from Bengali (Ganer Guntho) by Sukanta Chaudhuri. Write about the poem as you read it in English, and mention the translator only when asked.
Q. Is the singer's name "Bhishma" or "Bhisma"? The papers use both spellings. Copy the spelling used in your question.
Q. Is Delhi to Burma meant to be true? No. It is hyperbole, and the humour depends on our knowing it cannot be true.
Mistakes to avoid
- Calling the poem a tragedy, an ode or a lyrical poem. The word is nonsense verse.
- Taking the exaggerations as facts. Always call them hyperbole.
- Describing the music as "beautiful". It is loud, harsh and unwelcome.
Check yourself
- What kind of poem is The Power of Music?
- What does "from Delhi to Burma" show, and by which device?
- Why is the name Bhishma funny?
Answers: 1. Nonsense verse (humorous, mock-heroic). 2. That the singer's voice is enormously loud; it is hyperbole. 3. Bhishma is a mighty, fearsome hero of the Mahabharata, and the name is given to a comic, bad singer.