Paul Reveree Figurative Language

“Now listen, my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,” (Longfellow 1-2). These are the famous words to Henry Longfellow’s poem Paul Revere’s Ride that made Revere one of the most legendary and heroic figures in American history. Longfellow was an abolitionist that wrote the poem around the time of the civil war to “Rouse patriots from a deep indifference and tell them that they may soon be called to act heroically themselves,” (Johnson 20-21). Though his poem is not historically correct, Longfellow’s version of Paul Revere is impeccable; a cunning strong man who dies for the cause of patriotism. Throughout Paul Revere’s Ride Henry Longfellow uses figurative language such as idioms and onomatopoeia to portray the character of Paul Revere as a mighty patriot we should strive to be.

An example is “And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat,” (Longfellow 79-80). In this quote, it says that the spark “Kindled the land into flame” but the spark did not really set the earth on fire, rather Revere’s spark inspired and kindled the hearts of fellow patriots to fight for America. Another example of Paul Revere’s patriotism lies in lines 123 to 124: “A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore,” (Longfellow 123-124). The word that Revere spoke that night will not literally echo forevermore but it will figuratively echo in the hearts and minds of the brave patriots and soldiers that fought the British redcoats the next morning at Lexington and