Paul Revere's Ride

“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.