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.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 29, 2023

27 sec read
440

Quick analysis:

Scheme aAbb aAcc xcdd
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 420
Words 90
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. more…

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