8.4.4 Paul Revere's Ride

Why does the poet most likely open his poem with this stanza?

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.

• The poet wants to scare his readers.

• The poet is afraid that he will bore the reader.

• The poet intends to interest his readers through a sense of mystery.

• The poet is speaking down to his audience as though they are children.

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How does this stanza add to the sense of danger in this poem?

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.

• Paul Revere has to row undetected past the enemy’s ship that seems larger than it really is.

• Paul Revere imagines prisoners are held captive on the ship.

• The moonlight threatens to reveal Paul Revere.

• Paul Revere is so frightened, he thinks of turning back.

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What does this stanza reveal about Paul Revere’s friend?

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,

By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,

To the belfry-chamber overhead,

And startled the pigeons from their perch

On the somber rafters, that round him made

Masses and moving shapes of shade, —

By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,

To the highest window in the wall,

Where he paused to listen and look down

A moment on the roofs of the town,

And the moonlight flowing over all.

• He so loathes the British, he will risk his life.

• He’s afraid to disappoint Paul Revere because they are old friends.

• He is cowardly.

• He is always on the alert for any enemy sounds and movement.

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What is most likely the reason the poet includes references to “the dead”?

• He only wants to bring an eerie element to his poem.

• His main character would like to trade places with the dead.

• He uses that phrase as a constant reminder to the colonists of the possible fate that awaits them.

• He wishes to show that the early days of our country were not very cheerful.

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Which of the following inferences about Paul Revere’s horse would the poet most likely agree with?

• The horse is critical to the timely delivery of a life-saving message to a nation.

• The horse’s hoofs may be putting Paul Revere at risk because they are too loud.

• The horse sacrifices his life to save a nation.

• The horse is being pushed beyond the limits of what is considered humane.

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CCSS.RL.8.1

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Which lines in the poem best support your answer to question 5?

• “Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,

  Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.”

• “Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,

  Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride

• “He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,

  But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight

  A second lamp in the belfry burns!”

• “The fate of a nation was riding that night;”

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CCSS.W.8.9A

Which of these inferences about the fate of the British is best supported by this poem?

• Their arrogance has them believing the colonialists will roll over and play dead.

• Their military would rather fight Canada.

• They fled from the fight.

• Many defect and join the colonists’ fight.

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Which lines in the poem best support you answer to question 7?

• “The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,

  And the measured tread of the grenadiers,

  Marching down to their boats on the shore.”

• “A line of black, that bends and floats

  On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.”

• “He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,

  But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight

  A second lamp in the belfry burns!”

• “How the British regulars fired and fled, —

  How the farmers gave them ball for ball,

  From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,

  Chasing the red-coats down the lane,”

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CCSS.W.8.9A

Which meaning of fleet most closely matches its meaning in the poem?

A hurry of hoofs in a village street,

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet:

• [noun] marshland creek, channel or ditch

• [noun] a number of ships, vehicles, or aircraft

• [adjective] fast

• [verb] fade away

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Which happened first chronologically in the poem?

• He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,But lingers and gazes, till full on his sightA second lamp in the belfry burns!

• The watchful night-wind, as it went

  Creeping along from tent to tent,

  And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"

• 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!

• And one was safe and asleep in his bed

  Who at the bridge would be first to fall,

  Who that day would be lying dead,

  Pierced by a British musket-ball.

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