The Village Blacksmith
A village blacksmith works at his forge, earns his living without debt, and draws schoolchildren to watch the fire and sparks. On Sundays, he sits with his boys in church; his daughter's singing brings joy and tears as he remembers her dead mother. The speaker thanks him for a lesson in shaping one's life through daily effort.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Descriptive Poetry, Didactic Poetry · 462 words
First lines
Under a spreading chestnut-tree / The village smithy stands; / The smith, a mighty man is he, / With large and sinewy hands; / And the muscles of his brawny arms / Are strong as iron bands.
His hair is crisp, and black, and long, / His face is like the tan; / His brow is wet with honest sweat, / He earns whate'er he can, / And looks the whole world in the face, / For he owes not any man.
Genres
- Descriptive Poetry — Eight rhymed stanzas portray the smith's physical strength, forge work, watching schoolchildren, and Sunday church attendance.
- Didactic Poetry — The closing stanza turns the smith's daily labor into a lesson about shaping deeds, thoughts, and fortunes as metal is shaped on an anvil.
Tags
blacksmithing · manual labor · village life · church choir · bereavement · daily work
What this Textopian page supports
The Village Blacksmith is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Descriptive Poetry, Didactic Poetry
- Length: 462 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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