What Does The Arrow And The Song Mean

Born on February 27th in 1807, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow spent much of his life teaching lessons through poetry. In his poem “The Arrow and the Song,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow conveys the message that every action has a consequence. Through symbolism, Longfellow describes how positive and negative actions affect the people around you. Through the story he creates in “The Arrow and the Song,” Longfellow expresses how like an arrow, hatred will leave an everlasting scar, while kindness and compassion (the song) will promote friendship and happiness.
In his poem, Longfellow utilizes symbolism to effectively convey the message that every action, whether you can see it or not, has consequences. Because arrows are typically a symbol of rage and hatred, something that is often savage and uncontrolled, Longfellow uses arrows to represent negative and angry words. In “The Arrow and the Song,” the narrator mentioned that after he released his arrow, since it flew so “swiftly,” his “Sight could not follow it in its flight,” (Longfellow 3-4). When describing a form of impact or pain, the word “swift” often has a negative connotation, as it typically illustrates an attacker. However, the narrator made it clear that his “attack” wasn’t directed at any specific target, as his weapon simply “fell to earth” in an unknown location. Since the series of …show more content…
However, the component of the poem that impacted me the most is the message it conveyed, and the applicable story that was used to deliver it. Typically the adult is our lives constantly tell us to “think before you act,” but can never provide an explanation as to why. In this poem, Longfellow addresses that all actions have consequences and he describes how time doesn’t affect words, so their impact will last