McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XLVI · Part 5: Courage, kindness and the village smithy

52. The Village Blacksmith, by Longfellow

Goal: Your child reads and memorizes part of Longfellow's poem and explains the lesson the poet takes from the smith.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pencil

What's in the book

Longfellow's poem about a strong, honest village blacksmith, his work, his children, his church-going and his grief, ending with the lesson the poet learns from him.

The lesson, step by step

  1. About the author

    Remind your child of the note about Longfellow in Lesson XXVIII: born in Portland, Maine, a professor at Bowdoin and Harvard, whose poetry the book calls chaste and elegant.

  2. Read aloud

    Read it with a steady, strong rhythm, like a hammer.

    Under a spreading chestnut-tree

    The village smithy stands;

    The smith, a mighty man is he,

    With large and sinewy hands;

  3. Talk about it

    SayDescribe the smith. What does he look like?

    SayWhy do the children love to look in at the open door?

    They love to see the flaming forge,

    SayWhere does he go on Sunday, and why does he wipe a tear?

    SayAt the end the poet thanks the smith for a lesson. What is it?

    Thus at the flaming forge of life

  4. Tell it back

    Your child describes a week in the life of the smith, using details from the poem.

  5. Memorize

    Learn the first stanza, which begins:

    Under a spreading chestnut-tree

    Add the last stanza on later days.

  6. Write (optional)

    Write about a worker you admire and what you learn from watching them.

Afterwards

Add a stanza a day until your child can say several.

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