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The Village Blacksmith

The "flaming forge of life" in "The Village Blacksmith" represents the hard work and effort required to achieve life's goals. Literally, it refers to the blacksmith's fire where he shapes metal....

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The Village Blacksmith

In "The Village Blacksmith," the blacksmith is described as strong and hardworking. His "large and sinewy hands" and "brawny arms" are emphasized, illustrating his physical strength. Additionally,...

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The Village Blacksmith

The poet references the sexton in "The Village Blacksmith" to compare the blacksmith's hammering to the measured ringing of a church bell, using a simile to highlight their similar sounds and...

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The Village Blacksmith

The third stanza of "The Village Blacksmith" focuses on the sense of hearing. It describes the sounds associated with the blacksmith's work, such as the whooshing of the bellows and the rhythmic,...

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The Village Blacksmith

The character in "The Village Blacksmith" is described as a "mighty man" with "large and sinewy hands" and "brawny arms" with muscles like "iron bands." He has long, dark hair and a tan, and his face...

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The Village Blacksmith

The poet's message in "The Village Blacksmith" is that hard work and self-reliance are among the most important things in life. Longfellow holds up the eponymous character, who embodies these...

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The Village Blacksmith

In "The Village Blacksmith," the routine the blacksmith follows day in and day out regardless of the season is one of working hard from dawn to dusk in his blacksmith shop. He works six days a week,...

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The Village Blacksmith

In "The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, humanity's fate is compared to the blacksmith's work. The blacksmith is a person who works with metal, usually iron, heating it and...

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The Village Blacksmith

The poet thanks the blacksmith at the poem's end for the life lessons he provides through his example. The blacksmith embodies hard work, self-reliance, and integrity, allowing him to face others...

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The Village Blacksmith

In "The Village Blacksmith," the blacksmith is able to look the whole world in the face because he doesn't owe a thing to any man. He is a hard-working man who's entirely self-reliant, hence his...

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The Village Blacksmith

The children like to pass by the smithy while on their way home from school and look in through his door in "The Village Blacksmith." They love to watch the flames from his forge, listen to the sound...

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The Village Blacksmith

In Longfellow's poem "The Village Blacksmith," the children on their way home from school look in at the village blacksmith's door because They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows...

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The Village Blacksmith

The speaker compares the sounds of the blacksmith’s work to the sound of a sexton ringing the village bell.

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The Village Blacksmith

The poem "The Village Blacksmith," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, strongly emphasizes the values commonly associated with the Protestant work ethic through the character of a blacksmith in a small...

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The Village Blacksmith

The poem says of the blacksmith: You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, When the evening sun is low. The village bell is the...

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The Village Blacksmith

Longfellow paints a very flattering portrait of the village blacksmith. This is a man who seems to have no negative character traits whatsoever. He's incredibly hard-working, he regularly goes to...

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The Village Blacksmith

What makes "The Village Blacksmith" particularly inspiring is the way the man himself goes about his work every day no matter what life throws at him. Being a blacksmith is hard, physical work and...

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The Village Blacksmith

The blacksmith's sadness in "The Village Blacksmith" signifies the depth of his emotional experience and the personal losses he has endured. His sorrow reflects the universal human condition of...

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The Village Blacksmith

The village blacksmith represents a key element of the Romantic period, the common man as hero. He's a common man who is all mankind: The smith, a mighty man is he,    With large and...

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The Village Blacksmith

The "worthy friend" in the poem is the village blacksmith. The speaker has learned important life lessons from him. First, he has learned the value of hard work. The blacksmith is wet with "honest...

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The Village Blacksmith

The village blacksmith is the man who makes and shapes anything made from metal; for instance, he would shape horseshoes, make metal tools, and perhaps reshape anything metal that villagers would...

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The Village Blacksmith

It is the blacksmith himself who attracts the children after school to stop by and watch him work. The speaker states, "They love to see the flaming forge, / And hear the bellowsroar, / And watch...

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The Village Blacksmith

The village blacksmith is a single father raising a family by himself. His greatest happiness lies in his ability to engage in honest work to provide for his family and on Sunday, to hear his...

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The Village Blacksmith

In "The Village Blacksmith," One can infer from the third to last stanza that the blacksmith's wife was a virtuous woman who sang in the church choir before she died. She was worthy of her husband's...

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