Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator best known for poems written in lyrical style with mythical themes. One of his most famous works was The Song of Hiawatha. The Village Blacksmith is a 1840 poem describing the daily life of the local blacksmith, portraying him as a strong, hard-working man who is respected in the community. The poem follows the blacksmith through his day, hammering at the forge and attending church on Sundays with his family.

2. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• American poet and educator
• First American to translate Dante
Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy
• One of the five Fireside Poets
• Wrote many Lyric poems known for their
musicality and mythical undercurrents
• Important works: The Song of Hiawatha,
Voices of the Night.

3. The Village Blacksmith
• Published in 1840
• Describes a local blacksmith and his daily life

4. Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands
Smithy: Blacksmith

5. The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
• Mighty: characterised by
superior power or strength
• Sinewy : tough, firm

6. And the muscles of his brawny
arms
Are strong as iron bands.
Brawny: strong, muscular

7. His hair is crisp, and black, and
long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whatever he can,
And looks the whole world in the
face
For he owes not any man
Owes: to be in debt to

8. Week in, week out, from morn to
night,
You can hear his bellows blow
Bellows: a device for producing a strong current of air

9. You can hear him swing his heavy
sledge
With measured beat and slow
Sledge: Hammer

10. Like a sexton ringing the village
bell,
When the evening sun is low.
Sexton: an official of a church charged with taking
Care of edifice and its contents, ringing the bell
etc, and Sometimes burying the death.

11. And children coming home from
school
Look in at the open door;

12. They love to see the flaming forge
And hear the bellows roar,
Forge : a special fireplace, hearth, or
Furnace in which metal is heated
Before shaping

13. And catch the burning sparks that
fly
Like chaff from a threshing floor.
Chaff: The husks of grains and
Grasses that are separated
During threshing

14. He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter’s voice,
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

15. It sounds to him like her mother’s voice,
Singing in paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

16. Repose: The state of being at rest

17. Thanks, thanks to thee my worthy
friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Wrought: Worked
Hast: Have

18. Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.
Anvil: a heavy iron block
With a smooth face, frequently
Of steel, on which metals, usually
heated until soft, are hammered
into desired shapes

19. Presented by
Stephy Thomas