You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British regulars fired and fled,--
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,--
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight-message of Paul Revere.
HELPS TO STUDY.
Notes and Questions.
What message did Paul Revere bear?
Read an account of the battle of Lexington and observe how nearly this poem is true to history.
Who were John Hancock and Samuel Adams?
What does the second stanza tell you? The seventh stanza?
Does this poem call your attention chiefly to the horse, the rider, or the message?
Sketch a map locating Boston, Charlestown, Medford, Lexington, Concord.