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The meter of Longfellow’s poem is built around a four-beat rhythm whose pattern changes from line to line. This type of meter is known as accentual verse, which means that the meter is determined by the number of stressed syllables rather than the total number of metrical feet. To see how this variable rhythm plays out, consider the opening stanza (lines 1–5):
 
     List-en, my child-ren, and you shall hear
     Of the mid-night ride of Paul Re-vere,
     On the eigh-teenth of A-pril, in Se-ven-ty-Five:
     Hard-ly a man is now a-live
     Who re-mem-bers that fa-mous day and year.
 
The above breakdown makes it clear how, even though they range in length from seven to eleven syllables, these lines all consist of four stressed beats. Accentual verse like this has a long history in the English language, dating all the way back to poetry written in Old English. Perhaps the most famous poem written in accentual verse is the Old English epic, Beowulf. Longfellow’s choice to use this metrical form therefore places his poem in a lineage with ancient roots. Such a connection confers a sense of tradition that in turn evokes the atmosphere of legend.

If the four-beat meter of Longfellow’s verse conjures the atmosphere of legend, it’s in part because this meter also faintly recalls the rhythms typically associated with ballads. A ballad is a type of narrative poem that is often meant to be sung, and it’s a form typically used to recount the stories of legendary events and local heroes. On a formal level, traditional ballads tend to consist of four-line stanzas, where the lines alternate between having four and three beats. The alternating line lengths help give these story-driven poems a sense of forward momentum. Although Longfellow’s poem doesn’t use alternating line lengths, the strong four-beat lines with otherwise variable rhythms do frequently evoke the feeling of a ballad, even if not precisely. The ballad-like feeling of the meter is appropriate, given that this is a narrative poem meant to recount a famous deed performed by a now-legendary historical figure. Yet the evident divergences from ballad form remain noteworthy. Perhaps most importantly, they signal the writerly quality of the verse. That is, it features enough formal variation to clearly distinguish it from more oral modes of verse-based storytelling. Though frequently recalling the lilting rhythms of song, “Paul Revere’s Ride” was written first and foremost to be read.

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