Lesson Plans Lesson Plans

Longfellow Studies: The Village Blacksmith - The Reality of a Poem

Dennis D. Edmondson, Mt. Ararat High School, Sagadahoc County

2005

6-8, 9-12

  • English Language Arts -- Reading
  • Social Studies -- History

1-2 days

  • 1775-1850
  • 1851-1920
  • Economy
  • The People/Peopling of Maine

"The Village Blacksmith" was a much celebrated poem. Written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poem appeared to celebrate the work ethic and mannerisms of a working man, the icon of every rural community, the Blacksmith. However, what was the poem really saying?

  • Students will explore the role of the blacksmith as a symbol of economic change during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Associated slideshow


A resource developed through the "Longfellow & the Forging of American Identity" program funded by NEH