Analysis of Arrow and the Song, The
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 (Portland) – 1882 (Cambridge)
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.
Scheme | aAbb aAcc xcdd |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 111100101 11111111 11101101 11101011 11010101 11111111 11111101 111100111 11100011 1101011 001101011 1101001101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 420 |
Words | 90 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 12 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 27 sec read
- 445 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Arrow and the Song, The" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18505/arrow-and-the-song%2C-the>.
Discuss this Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In