The Midnight Ride
of
Paul Revere
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Writer
And
Grant Wood, Painter
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Listen my children and you shall hear
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,–
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled
oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North
Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,–
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the
dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel’s
tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"

A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret
dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,–
A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,

As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and somber and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the
light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the
steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and
deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford
town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and
bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have
read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of
alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
Does it sound familiar ?
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The poem itself, have you heard it before?
Was the history familiar?
Did you hear the Iambic pentameter ?
Was all of the history correct ?

Does the author use the sounds of our
language to create interest in his story?
Onomatopoeia

Does the author use the sound of words to
tell his story?
Assonance

Does the author use words in sequence or in
close proximity which have the same internal
vowel sound?

Does the author use descriptions and
comparisons to create pictures in the
reader’s mind?
Imagery

Does the author create snapshots of images
in the mind of the reader for the sake of
enhancing meaning, creating setting or
mood, or developing character?

Does he show things to the reader rather
than simply telling him about them?
Simile

Does the author use the words “like” or “as”
in making comparisons between two or more
things?
Personification

Does the author represent inanimate objects
as being lifelike or human?
Metaphor

Does the author make comparisons of
objects or things without the use of the words
“like” or “as”?

Does the author use the characters and
events in his story to communicate a theme
that goes beyond them in some way?
Allusion

Does the author refer to other works of
literature, historical events, works of art, or
well know ideas in his work?
Symbolism

Does the author use any objects, persons,
pictures or things to represent an idea, a
virtue or a philosophy in the story?

For example, darkness may be used to
represent wickedness. Light may be used to
represent truth and goodness.

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Many believe Longfellow’s account of the
Midnight Ride is inaccurate because he
portrays Revere as a lone rider alerting the
colonists.
Longfellow also fails to mention that Revere
was captured by British soldiers before he
reached Concord.
However, the literary creation of a folk hero
named Paul Revere was inspiring to many,
and the poem still reminds people of all ages
what it means to be a patriot.

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On his way to Lexington, Revere stopped at each
house to spread the word that the British troops
would soon be arriving.
Sometime around midnight, Revere arrived at the
house of Reverend Jonas Clark, where Hancock
and Adams were staying, and gave them his
message.
Soon after Revere’s message was delivered,
another horseman sent on a different route by Dr.
Warren, William Dawes, arrived.
Revere and Dawes decided that they would
continue on to Concord, Massachusetts, where the
local militia had stockpiled weapons and other
supplies for battle.
Dr. Samuel Prescott, a third rider, joined Revere
and Dawes.

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On their way to Concord, the three were
arrested by a patrol of British officers.
Prescott and Dawes escaped almost
immediately, but Revere was held and
questioned at gunpoint.
He was released after being taken to
Lexington. Revere then went to the aid of
Hancock and Adams, whom he helped
escape the coming siege.
He then went to a tavern with another man,
Mr. Lowell, to retrieve a trunk of documents
belonging to Hancock.


At 5:00 a.m., as Revere and his associate
emerged from the tavern, they saw the
approaching British troops and heard the first
shot of the battle fired on the Lexington
Green.
This gunshot of unknown origin, which
caused the British troops to fire on the
colonists, is known as "the shot heard
round the world."
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on
February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine.
He was first enrolled in school at the age of
three, and he had a love for literature early in
his life.
His father wanted him to become a lawyer,
but Longfellow wanted to pursue his literary
interests.

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He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825,
and was offered a position as the first
professor of modern languages at Bowdoin.
Longfellow accepted this offer, and began
teaching in 1829, following an educational trip
to Europe where he visited scholars in Spain,
Italy, England, France and Germany.
He created his own textbooks while teaching
at Bowdoin, because, at the time, no others
were available.
He went on to teach at Harvard, Oxford and
Cambridge.

He resigned from Harvard in 1854 in order to
dedicate all of his time to his writing.

Some of Longfellow’s most popular works
(The Song of Hiawatha and The Courtship of
Miles Standish) were written during the years
after he left Harvard.


Longfellow was awarded honorary
degrees by both the University of
Oxford and the University of
Cambridge.
He is considered to be the first
professional poet in America and his
later works, including Paul Revere’s
Ride (1860), reflect his desire to
establish an American Mythos. ******
Grant Wood (1892-1942)

Born in 1891 in Anamosa, Iowa. He studied at the
Art Institute of Chicago in 1912; and at the
Academie Julian in Paris around 1920, and upon his
return to Iowa began seriously painting. Wood was
part of a group of American artists call the
Regionalists who deliberately turned their backs on
progressive European art of the 1930’s and its
abstract tendencies, choosing instead to depict in
realistic style their native Midwestern world and the
lives of ordinary people. His crisp, liner style was
influenced by early Flemmish painting that he saw
when he was in Europe in the 1920’s.
Grant Wood
Grant Wood [1892-1942]

Wood is probably best know for his painting,
“American Gothic” c. 1930 – painted just
one year before Midnight Ride – which
dignifies a homely country couple on an
ordinary Iowa farm.
Wood’s Training


Although he trained as an artist, Wood was a
self-consciously “primitive” painter who
emulated the unpretentious, unschooled
manner of American folk artists.
This is a straightforward style that rejects any
detail or artifice that might divert attention
from the principal subject. *****
The Midnight Ride
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Goes one step further to capture a child’s
point of view. ********
A bird’s-eye perspective (like that of an
airplane) allows us to survey a vast sweep of
countryside and give the New England village
the ordered clarity of a town made of toys.
Check it out ….

The country church and surrounding houses
are simple geometric shapes, as though
constructed of building blocks.

The trees are crowned with perfect green
spheres, like those of a child would try to
draw. ********
Check it out ….

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Wood makes no attempt to be either
historically accurate, for instance, are far
too bright to be lit by candles,
Or scientifically accurate: moonlight
illuminating the foreground scene is
preternaturally brilliant, casting long, seep
shadows on the road like a spotlight focused
on the main event. *******
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Rolling landscape beyond is left
sleeping in a darkness that is broken
only by tiny glimmers from faraway
windows.
To complete this evocation of a
childhood dream, Wood whimsically
portrays Paul Revere’s trusty steed –
“flying fearless and fleet,” in
Longfellow’s words – as a Rocking
horse.
When this painting was made,
some thought that Wood was
making fun of the beloved
American legend.
 In fact, Wood’s attention was just
the opposite. His aim, Wood said,
was to save those “bits of
American folklore that are too
good to lose.”

Wood’s Goal

This preservation tendency was
part of his greater scheme to forge
a national identity, which he
believed could be created though
art as well as history.

Longfellow attempted to achieve
the same thing through his poetry.
*******************
Wood’s goal is supported by

Longfellow’s lines:
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the Midnight message of Paul Revere.

Wood’s mission took on added
urgency during the great
Depression, when Midnight Ride of
Paul Revere was painted.

The image of the United States as
a young and vibrant nation was
beginning to lose its luster;

At the same time, American art was losing
its traditional association with ordinary
life as younger artists exchanged regional
subjects and traditions for more
cosmopolitan, largely abstract styles
emerging from Paris and New York.

Grant Wood struggled against the tide,
committed to his dream of a truly American
art that would link the present to the past
and preserve all the stories that made up
the American heritage. ******

Seen as a satirist when American Gothic first
appeared, Wood had refashioned himself
by the mid-1930s as an outspoken
celebrant of the heartland and of healthy,
"native" art.
Spring in Town
New Road

The Perfectionist
The Good Influence
Grant Wood’s House
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American Gothic
Daughters of the Revolution
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Grant Wood Self Portrait
Cherry Tree, c. 1939
Woman with Plant
Appraisal
Spring in the Country
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Wood’s first sale
“ Truck Garden Moret "
The Horse traders
QUIZ QUESTIONS
1.
Who was considered the
first professional poet in
America ?
Quiz Question 2


Even though this painter was classically
trained at the Chicago Art Institute, he is
considered a “primitive” painter who emulated
the unpretentious, unschooled manner of
American folk art.
Who was he?
Question 3

Grant Wood achieved what two goals with his
art ?
Question 4

Grant Wood is best known for which one of
his paintings?
Question 5

In Grant Wood’s painting, “The Midnight Ride
of Paul Revere” is said to capture a
_____________ point of view.
Please give me 3 examples.
Extra Credit

Both Longfellow and Wood attempted to
create what lasting memory with their work?
Next Week

Please have Common Sense read and be
ready to discuss it.