Junior Year English Journal #10

Reflection on three Longfellow poems: "A Psalm of Life", "The Arrow and the Song", and "The Tide Rises and the Tide Falls".

The three Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems I was assigned to read, "A Psalm of Life", "The Arrow and the Song", and "The Tide Rises and the Tide Falls," all were easily accessible to me, I read each poem and I felt I had a decent understanding of them, which is usually difficult for me as my attention span is usually short with poetry, I find it dull and unenjoyable unless it is humorous to me. This shows me that it is not hard to believe that Longfellow was immensely popular in Europe and the United States. Overall, I find his positive outlook on live revealing, and at the same time it helps me to realize that not all poets are bitter, lonely, and angry at the world, which, although I know it is incorrect, is the view that often pops into my head when thinking of poets and poetry.