Question

In Longfellow’s poem "The Village Blacksmith," Longfellow never gives a name to the blacksmith. By not naming the blacksmith, Longfellow makes him universal. This means the blacksmith can represent anyone in America who is a honest, hardworking member of the community. Who is someone you believe is like the village blacksmith?

In your answer make sure you have at least five sentences and cite at least two lines from the poem with page numbers that you would use to describe the person you believe is like the village blacksmith.

Answer 1

My dad is like the village blacksmith.

The first and second verse of the poem, the writer describes the physical attributes of the blacksmith.

Then in verse 3, the blacksmith's innate qualities of consistency, and hard work are unravelled.

This is very typical of my dad who though is a farmer never slips up on his work and always keeps his promise.

Another quality of the blacksmith that I see in my dad is found in verse 5. It reads that the blacksmith sits amongst the boys on Sunday, connoting that he is a Christian.

My dad, same as the blacksmith not only goes to church on Sunday. He prays and teaches us to do the same.

He is quite inclined towards God. I guess it's because much like the blacksmith who from steel forges various kinds of tools and shapes objects, He recognises that many of the things around us too were "forged" by a Superior Blacksmith.

Cheers!