Paul Revere's Ride Poem Analysis

Text Dependent Analysis: “Paul Revere’s Ride” Author’s style is how an author writes; figurative language, a literary device, is a method that authors use to develop their style. For instance, in her historical poem “Not My Bones,” Marilyn Nelson incorporates figurative language, such as personification and metaphors, to depict the life, hardship, and hope of the slaves before the Civil War. Likewise, in his narrative poem “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow adds various types of figurative language to generate his writing style. In the beginning of the poem, Longfellow institutes a simile due to his writing style. To demonstrate, the speaker reveals to the reader as Paul Revere is observing the Somerset, a British warship, that was docked on the Charleston shore before the Civil War, “A

To establish, the reader learns from the speaker that Revere is informing the colonists that the British will be attacking by the sea, which he is now in Lexington, “And the meeting-house windows, black and bare, / Gaze at him with a spectral glare” (97-98). Giving a biotic trait to an abiotic being is known as personification; Longfellow includes personification because he gives the windows the human quality of sight. The author states that the windows are gazing to foreshadow the death, war, and destruction that the colonists will face. Hence, Longfellow utilizes personification to depict the future of the American colonists to create his writing style. Before reading “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one may believe that the poem is strictly informative with no interesting elements involved. As one begins to read, he/she notices that Longfellow incorporates his own style to increase the interest of his poem. After reading, the reader understands that the authors use their own stylistic techniques, such as figurative language, to make their writing more distinct and