The Arrow And The Song BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW JORDAN WALLACE

Poem I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend. The poet is using rhyme scheme and the poem is lyric

Biographical Information  Henry wrote his poetry in lyric  Henry wrote in free verse  Henry was born in Portland, Maine  He was the second child of eight children  He published his first poem call “The Battle of Lovell's Pond” in Portland Gazette on November 17, 1820  His grandfather was a founder of the collage he went to

Structure  The poem is made up of 3 stanzas of 4 lines each

Speaker Henry wrote one of his other poems about his wife who had a miscarriage six mouths into her pregnancy an several weeks later died because of it he named the poem "Footsteps of Angels“.

Imagery  He shot an arrow  He breathed a song into the air

Literary Terms  In the poem he is trying to find the arrow and the song

Literal Meaning  Some literal meaning is swiftly it flew

Figurative Meaning  I found it again in the heart of a friend

Author’s Purpose Although the arrow is usually visible to the eye the song his feelings are not any less real just because they are invisible

Theme  The theme is about a journey