21 pages • 42 minutes read
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Paul Revere’s Ride” is a ballad, a story in verse. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow structures the poem as a told-narrative, introducing in the first stanza a fictitious speaker who, long after Revere’s ride, shares the dramatic story with listeners in a tavern or inn. In the closing stanza, the speaker returns and gives the story of the midnight ride a historical context that would appeal to his listeners.
The poem invites dramatic recitation. The form is irregular to match the spontaneous immediacy and emotional feeling of a told-story meant to enthrall the tavern patrons. The poem is divided into 14 stanzas. Stanza length is irregular; the shortest is the five-line prologue and the longest, at 16 lines, is Stanza 7, which describes Paul Revere impatiently awaiting the signal from the North Church belfry. Most of the stanzas, however, average 8-10 lines. This sort of irregular/regular quick-cut form creates the feeling of a storyteller giving life to the narrative. The stanzas break where the action breaks, thus using the form to create the feeling of rising action and breathless pauses appropriate to a told-story.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Psalm Of Life
A Psalm Of Life
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Evangeline
Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Nature
Nature
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow