“Paul Revere’s Ride”
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Analysis and Interpretation
Publication
 Poem was originally published in January of 1861 on the eve of the




Civil War
Longfellow was an abolitionist who sympathized with the North’s
cause; he wanted to note that history favors the courageous
Poem was later published in Longfellow’s Tales of theWayside Inn; it
was first in a collection of 22 narratives similar to Geoffrey
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
Warns at the end of the poem of a coming "hour of darkness and
peril and need", implying the breakup of the Union
By emphasizing the nation’s common history, he was attempting to
dissolve social tensions.
“Hardly a Man is Now Alive”
 Longfellow’s phrase
"Hardly a man is now
alive" was true: the last
man alive from the
Revolution had just
recently died
 Longfellow was inspired to
write the poem after
climbing the tower of the
Old North Church on
April 5, 1860
The Old North Church
 The enduring fame of the Old North began on the
evening of April 18, 1775, when the church sexton,
Robert Newman, climbed the steeple and held high
two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the
British were marching to Lexington and Concord by
sea and not by land.
 This fateful event ignited the American Revolution.
 The Old North Church is officially known as Christ
Church in the City of Boston.
The Old North Church
 It was built in 1723, and is the oldest standing
church building in Boston.
 In 1775, on the eve of Revolution, the majority of
the congregation were loyal to the British King and
many held official positions in the royal
government, including the Royal Governor of
Massachusetts, making Robert Newman's loyalty to
the Patriot cause even more extraordinary.
 The King gave the Old North its silver that was
used at services and a bible.
Background
 Longfellow wrote the poem 80 years after the event
 For many months before Paul Revere made his ride, tension
between the Colonists and British Troops had been on the
rise, both in the city and in surrounding towns.
 The Royal Government (the British government in
Massachusetts) wanted to ensure that troops would be able to
secure the colony in case of rebellion.
 Orders went out to confiscate weapons that the Colonists
had been storing throughout the countryside.
Background
 Several parties of British troops had been sent up the
coast to confiscate ammunition in Salem and parts of
what is now New Hampshire.
 In both of those cases, Paul Revere and other riders who
were members of the Sons of Liberty, alerted the
townspeople of the movement of British troops well
before those troops could reach their destinations.
 The munitions were successfully hidden and the British
troops were humiliated
Background
 When General Gage, the Commander of British forces in
North America and a parishioner at Old North , decided to
seize the weapons and ammunition at Lexington and
Concord, he didn't want to risk another humiliating failure,
so he devised a secret plan.
 On the evening of April 18th, 1775, he would order his
British soldiers cross the Charles River and march the
remaining 15 miles to Lexington under the cover of
darkness, arrive at sunrise to collect the armaments and
return to Boston before the townspeople could organize their
resistance.
Background
 However, someone found out about this secret plan—some
believe it was General Gage's maid, some believe it was his own
American-born wife, Margaret Kimball Gage, who informed the
leaders of the Sons of Liberty that the troops were on the move by
way of the shorter water route across the inner harbor.
 Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty had prepared for this troop
movement and set about to alert their countrymen that the British
Regulars (the British soldiers, sometimes referred to as Redcoats)
were heading their way.
Background
 Sending just one rider into the countryside was far too dangerous
this time. Revere asked Robert Newman, the church sexton or
caretaker, if he would send a back-up signal to warn the patriots in
Charlestown, just in case Revere himself was captured on his ride
before he could spread the alarm that the British were on the
move.
 Paul Revere, who was not a member of Old North, knew it well
because he had been a bell-ringer here as a 15 year old boy. He
knew that lanterns shining from the steeple of the tallest building
in Boston at the time would clearly be seen on the other side of
the harbor.
Background
 Newman agreed to help, so about 10:00 pm that
evening, he entered through the front doors of the
church.
 He then went up the stairs to the balcony and slipped
through the doorway that is now behind the organ.
 From there he climbed the 14-story steeple in complete
darkness.
 When he reached the very top, he lit and briefly held up
two lanterns in the steeple window.
Background
 Although Newman hung the lanterns for probably
less than a minute, it was long enough to be seen
not only by the patriots, but also by the British
troops.
 As Newman was coming down the stairs, British
soldiers were at the front doors, trying to break
in to investigate.
 To escape arrest, Newman came down the center
aisle, and escaped through the window to the
right of the altar.
Symbolism: The Belfry
 The Old North Church stands as a symbol of our
nation’s courage, strength in times of turmoil, but more
importantly, the power of collective action against a
common enemy.
 Longfellow uses the church to symbolically represent
hope and freedom, being that it stood the test of time
against the British, the evildoers. However, the lantern
signal (which he did not receive) was meant for Revere,
not put there by him. Longfellow does this to
symbolically gesture to the nation that patriots like
Revere act as a beacon of hope and courage, and
therefore, light a fire under the rest of us to become in
turn, inspired.
Symbolism
 The poem fluctuates between past
and present tense (sometimes in the
same sentence).
 This is done symbolically to place
the events of the Revolution into a
modern context and remind the
country of its moral and cultural
values.
Inaccuracies
 The poem depicts Revere rowing
himself across the Charles River when,
in reality, he was rowed over by others.
 He never reached Concord.
 Another inaccuracy is a general
lengthening of the time frame of the
night's events.
Inaccuracies
 Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston to Lexington to




warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that British soldiers were
marching from Boston to Lexington to arrest Hancock and Adams
and seize the weapons stores in Concord.
Revere and Dawes then rode toward Concord, where the militia's
arsenal was hidden.
They were joined by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to
be in Lexington. Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were stopped by
British troops in Lincoln on the road to nearby Concord.
Prescott and Dawes escaped, but Revere was detained and
questioned and then escorted at gunpoint by three British officers
back to Lexington.
Of the three riders, only Prescott arrived at Concord in time to
warn the militia there.
Meter: The Galloping Horse
 Longfellow mostly uses two kinds of meter: (1) the iamb (an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable – da DUM) and (2) the anapest, two unstressed
syllables followed by a stressed syllable (da da DUM).
Line 2, for example, is made up of an anapest followed by three iambs. The
stressed syllables are in bold and divide the meter up with slashes:
Of the mid/night ride/ of Paul/ Revere
Three syllables in the first group (or "foot") – that's the anapest – then three
groups of two (the iambs).
Also, take a look at line 3:
On the eight/eenth of A/pril, in Sev/enty-five/
Literary Elements
Together, lets define:
 Assonance
 Consonance
 Alliteration
 Personification
 Imagery
 Tone
 Mood
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds
within words.
Example:
Line 100: At the bloody work they
would look upon.
Consonance
 The repetition of consonant sounds
within and at the ends of words.
 Example:
 Line 79: And the spark struck out by
that steed, in his flight,
Alliteration
 The repetition of consonant sounds at
the beginning of words.
 Example:
 Line 25: Wanders and watches with
eager ears.
Personification
 A figure of speech in which an object,
animal, or idea is given human
characteristics.
 Example:
 Line 37: By the trembling ladder, steep
and tall
Imagery
 Descriptive words and phrases that a
writer uses to re-create sensory
experiences; they appeal to the five
senses: taste, touch, sight, sound, and
smell.
 Example:
 Line 44: Wrapped in silence so deep
and still
Tone
 A writer’s attitude towards his or her
subject. A writer can communicate tone
through diction, choice of details, and direct
statements on his or her position.
 Example:
 Line 4 and 5: Hardly a man is now
alive/Who remembers that famous day and
year.
Mood
 The feeling or atmosphere that a writer
creates for the reader. Anything within a
poem can create the mood of the piece.
 Remember Longfellow’s use of iambs and
anapests to create that galloping feeling.
Through this, Longfellow creates an urgent
mood within the poem.
Journal #8 (200 word minimum)
 Do you think that Longfellow was justified in
creating Paul Revere and his famous ride in the
manner he did? Why or why not? Be sure to think
about the repercussions of his “mistakes” in both a
positive and negative fashion. What would change
if Longfellow adhered to historical accuracy when
writing the poem? Would it have been as
effective? Why or why not?