In his famous essay "The Poet", Emerson argues that men who know how to use words are not true poets, saying: "...we let us now speak not of men gifted with poetic talents, or of industry and skill in meter, but of the true poet” (quoted in Richards, 103). And a little later, he adds: “For it is not the meters, but an argument which makes a meter, which makes a poem” (104). According to Emerson, a poet who favors form over thought is not a poet at all, but rather simply a skilled manipulator of words. For him, a poet must be the articulator of an authentic thought or argument; it is not enough to create a poem solely on the sound and effect of the words. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn 1844, the same year Emerson published his essay, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published “The Day is Done,” a poem that s directly opposes the point made in "The Poet". Longfellow is hyper-aware of the meter, rhyme, word choice, and overall sound of his poem; in fact, it is these elements that make the poem a coherent and successful work. Because of Longfellow's attention to the effect of words and his apparent disregard for what Emerson would call a "meter-making argument," "The Day is Done" serves as a counterargument to the claim Emerson's initial. Emerson seems to suggest that the true poet is one who can articulate the divine. In other words, he takes a romantic view of nature and language, asserting that the true poet can “report the conversation” he has with nature, the physical manifestation of the divine. The true poet will “penetrate into that region where the air is music…hear these primitive warblings and attempt to write them” (103). Longfellow attacks this assertion in “The Day is Done” with his own treatment of the divine. In Longfellow's poem, the speaker requests the reading of a poem that will arouse divine sensitivity. However, the requested poem is self-referential; Longfellow's poem has all the qualities of the requested poem. If the requested poem has the "power to calm / The restless pulse of care / And come like the blessing / That follows prayer" (lines 33-36), and Longfellow's poem has all the qualities of the requested poem, then by syllogism, Longfellow's poem has the capacity to evoke the divine. But more importantly, the divine is not evoked by thought or argument. Rather, the divine is evoked precisely through the effect created by word choice, rhyme, meter and overall effect. One of the ways Longfellow evokes the divine through prosody is his use of the number three. The most important occurrence of the number three is in the stress pattern; the poem is written in trimeter, with three accents per line. To emphasize the importance of the three, the first line of the poem contains three words beginning with the letter “d”: “day,” “fact,” and “darkness.” The triple alliteration of the first line, coupled with the triple accents throughout the poem, draws attention to the number three – symbol of the Trinity. The only time Longfellow interrupts the trimeter is in the first line of the sixth stanza: “For like tunes of martial music” (line 21). However, this interruption does not endanger the poem's relationship to the Trinity; on the contrary, it strengthens it. Because the context of the verse is a description of the poetry of the “great ancient masters” (line 17) and the “sublime bards” (line 18). The speaker asks the recipient of the poem to read a “simple” and “sincere” poem (line 14), different from the poems of the great old masters. About these poems, he writes: “For, like the tunes of amartial music / Their powerful thoughts suggest / The endless toil and effort of life / And this night I long for rest” (lines 21-24). Interestingly, he draws attention to the interruption of the meter through the first word “for”. Playing on the similarity between “for” and “four”, Longfellow invites the reader to notice that the sentence about the great old masters has four accents, not three. The implication is that there is something ungodly in this phrase, and more importantly in the "tones of martial music." While paying homage to ancient poets with words like “great...masters” and “sublime bards,” Longfellow affirms the divine quality of his own poetry, simpler and more sincere. Also noteworthy is the fact that Longfellow discredits these poets for their "powerful thoughts" (line 22). This phrase seems particularly aimed at Emerson, who writes: “Thought and form are equal in the order of time, but in the order of genesis thought is prior to form” (103). While Emerson praises thought as the primary agent of a poem, Longfellow dismisses the great old masters for their “powerful thoughts,” arguing instead for the importance of form, and especially the sound of language. Finally, Longfellow highlights his critique of the great old masters and their powerful thoughts in the phrase “strains of martial music” (line 21). On the one hand, the alliterative “m” sound adds to the musical nature of the line. In contrast, the Trochaic expression “martial music” is harsh and evokes images of war, armies and marching. Longfellow distinguishes the trochaic poetry of the masters from his own, more soothing poetry, by frequently using iambs, as in the line "The restless pulse of care" (34). The speaker suggests that the poems of the great old masters do not possess the soothing, somnolent quality he seeks; the breaking of the trimeter and the use of the trochee dissociate them - poetically and metaphorically - from the divine. In the seventh and eighth stanzas, Longfellow presents his own representation of the poet. Whereas Emerson's poet is only a recorder of the divine, Longfellow's poet's experience is more in line with Wordsworth's “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” mentioned in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. Longfellow writes: “Read from a humbler poet / Whose songs gushed from his heart / Like showers falling from summer clouds / Or tears gushed from eyelids; / Who, through long days of work / And nights devoid of comfort / Music could still be heard in his soul / Wonderful melodies" (25-32). Longfellow's mention of music echoes the Emerson's idea of ​​entering the region "where the air is music" (103) However, in Longfellow's poem, the "wonderful melodies" come from the humble poet, not from a transcendent and world. ethereal. Finally, Longfellow's choice of the word "humble" to describe the poet evokes notions of humility and Christ, as does the line "Where the tears of the eyelids begin" (28). who merely records the divine, Longfellow's poet brings the divine into being through the sound of his own poetry. This point is precisely underlined in the following stanza: "Such songs have the power to soothe / The pulse. agitated with care / And come like the blessing / That follows prayer” (33-36) Following the association of the words of Longfellow's poem with the divine, the speaker continues: “So read in the precious volume / The poem. of your choice / And ready for the poet's rhyme / The beauty of your voice” (37-40). First, the “precious volume” of verse 37 evokes the idea of ​​the Bible. However, the speaker does not ask that a poem from the Bible be read,.