Primary Source Text (Poem Excerpt) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • First published 1860

Excerpt from “Paul Revere’s Ride”

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march
By 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 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.

Comprehension Tabs
Question view mode

Questions in each tab refer to the poem excerpt above. All questions are multiple choice.

1. What is the main purpose of this excerpt from “Paul Revere’s Ride”?

Main idea: the poem retells the events leading up to Revere’s midnight warning.

2. What signal does Revere ask his friend to give from the North Church tower?

Detail about “One, if by land, and two, if by sea.”

3. According to the poem, what is Paul Revere planning to do after he sees the signal?

Detail about his promise to “ride and spread the alarm.”

4. Which detail from the poem shows that the story takes place many years before the poet is telling it?

Detail: the speaker says almost no one is now alive who remembers that day.