Paul Revere's Ride Longfellow Summary

Henry Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride” created a new national hero. Written in a time of tension and conflict, Longfellow didn’t prioritize the accuracy of historical details over the need to create a new national hero, to yet again spark the patriotism once shown by the man he wrote about. Longfellow wrote this piece in order to allow the country to feel the pride and patriotism that had been the foundation of nation since the previous century. While Longfellow accomplished explaining the core of what happened, he failed to mention the other riders who also rode that night, and Revere’s capture, where he was soon released in Lexington with no horse. Longfellow used imagery to create the image of a patriot, and the spirit of that patriot that saved the night. First, he illustrates the image of the British war ship that will soon arrive, describing it as a “phantom ship,” who looked “like a prison bar across the moon.” Longfellow chose to describe it this way, because it represented the force, the evil of the ones that wanted to imprison the freedom of the US and chain their patriotic spirit. He later says that the “hurry of hooves,” the figure in the darkness, was from Paul and his horse, riding

The son sounds regretfully, adding that he’d never thanked his father for all that had been done for him. In the first line of the poem, it says that the father got up early on “Sundays too…” to make a fire, despite his hands that were aching from hard work. This implies that the father did this every day, including his days off, all so that he could provide his son with warmth. The son then speaks of his father who had warmed him and “polished his good shoes as well.” Despite how childish and indifferent the son used to be, the father did worked hard for him every single day, therefore being the hero that the son never realized he’d had until later