The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

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 oarSilently 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 ? • 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.

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.

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.

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.

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” painterwho 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 • 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 …. • 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. *******

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. *******************

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere