The Arrow And The Song Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Arrow And The Song

Rating: 3.3


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.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Daniel Hu 18 January 2012

the arrow means the friend and he found it unbrken and also found his friend with the song he lost so this song is abount finding something then losing it

54 143 Reply
Ravi A 30 July 2009

The spirit of the poem is well and clear. Arrow represents our material world and song represents the subjective, spiritual world. It represents the genuineness of our heart. We may or may not get back the returns from the material world for our deeds but if our songs are genuine we can certainly get a true echo of ourselves in the hearts of people and friends. Our genuineness would live through the generations for that matter.

66 107 Reply
Gracefair Xue 05 July 2007

this poem praises friendship.You may not know whether your contribution to friendship is valued at the time you show it, but one day to your surprise, you will find there are people who have cherish the frienship with you. Especially today, we are too busy to share many things with friends as people used to do, we can only hope that someday we can find it somewhere.

75 94 Reply
Naz Tliachev 28 August 2012

Nothing disappers in the thin air....Arrow - what you did bad (without control): and the song - good that remains in the heart of your friends.

127 41 Reply
Sam Strode 26 April 2007

It is a very interesting poem, but what I have been reading about the author that he doesn't write in the abstract so it makes me wonder if longfellow was an enivromentalist, the oak being his friend and not two different incidences

45 111 Reply
Xman2022Sarasota 09 September 2022

How did I get through 72 years of life and 16 years of formal education with so fleeting an introduction to Longfellow? He was truly our Bard, but overlooked, at least by those who steered me through the classics of literature and poetry.

1 0 Reply
Rebecca Navarre 08 September 2021

Such beauty and heart beyond words! ............ And beyond numbering! .........

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 28 August 2021

BUT very thought-provoking. But with beautiful things to guess.

1 1 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 27 August 2021

Very nice rhymes, a fascinating poem!

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 27 August 2021

And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend. Precious meaning of a beautiful poem.5 Stars full

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