Henry Wadsworth Henry Wadsworth LongfellowLongfellow

Poetic Devices and Themes in “The Midnight Ride of Poetic Devices and Themes in “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere”Paul Revere”

Voice from the PastVoice from the Pasthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6dhICCzcwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6dhICCzcw

Assonance

Wanders and watches with eager ears

Measured tread of the grenadiersThe fate of the nation was riding that night

Alliteration

Flying fearless and fleet

a line of black that bends and floatson the rising tide like a bridge of boats

Simile

My heart is like a stone across the moon

A phantom ship with each mast and spar,Across the moon like a prison bar

Onomatopoeia

CRASH

BANG

WHOOSH

CROWING OF COCK

STAMPED THE EARTH

Personification

The watchful night wind, as it went,creeping along from tent to tent,

and seeming to whisper, “All is well.”

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Imagery

Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch,

of the North Church tower as a signal light

Old NOrth churchgraham wood

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.

Language = MoodRising Action-momentum

buildingErie almost ghost story like

quality

Abolitionist

Written on the cusp of the civil warCall to freedom for all Americans

What lines inspire you ? patrio

Is Longfellow really talking about the British?What do you think?

He said to his friend, "If the British marchBy 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 layThe Somerset, British man-of-war;

A phantom ship, with each mast and sparAcross the moon like a prison bar,

And a huge black hulk, that was magnifiedBy its own reflection in the tide

What modern day issues can Longfellow speak to?