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The Arrow And The Song Personification

Decent Essays

In the poem “The Arrow and the Song,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow uses the symbolism of an arrow and of a song to illustrate how actions and words have consequences. Longfellow uses literary devices through this poem, specifically symbolism, personification, and imagery to effectively portray his overall theme about the impact of our actions. Furthermore, symbolism is seen through the use of the arrow and the song representing the lasting effects of our actions. The arrow represents actions that are corrupt, while the song represent actions that are benevolent. Likewise, another literary device is seen in the quotation, “I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where”(6). Here, personification is used because something impalpable like a song can not fall. In the …show more content…

This idea is similarly seen with the song. The song disappeared without guidance or an intent, but was found “in the heart of a friend” and this additionally relates to the idea of karma. In regards to the mood and tone, the mood was inspiring and uplifting, and the tone was instructional. The mood is inspirational since the author is making the audience think about the intent of our actions, because in most cases we are unsure where they will end up like what happened to the arrow and the song, in which the poem states, “It fell to earth, I knew not where (2). Furthermore, the tone was instructional because the poem is seen in a cause and effect sequence. The author illustrates two scenarios of our action to either be adverse and hit a tree, like the arrow did or fill someone’s heart, which the song accomplished. Therefore, Longfellow’s poem is effective through the use of the tone, mood, literary devices, and most specifically parallelism. Parallelism is seen in the first two lines of stanza one and

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