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The Moon

Throughout the action narrated in Longfellow’s poem, the moon is ever-present, shedding light on the events described and illuminating the way for Paul Revere’s midnight ride. In this way, the moon stands as a symbolic, otherworldly force that actively aids the American revolutionaries in their fight against the British. Longfellow first suggests the moon’s “collaborative” nature in the third stanza, immediately after Revere and his friend part ways (lines 15–23):

     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.

The moon rises precisely as Revere sets off on his mission. Not only is the timing of the moonrise suspiciously convenient, but it also illuminates the dangerous “phantom ship.” With the moon situated behind this “British man-of-war,” the ship’s masts and spars look like “prison-bar[s],” thus clearly highlighting the danger this ship poses. Now that the moon has risen, Longfellow draws attention to it again and again. When Revere’s collaborator looks over the churchyard, he sees an array of gravestones with “the moonlight flowing over all” (line 41). Later, when Revere takes off on his horse, the speaker describes him in quasi-legendary terms, as “a shape in the moonlight” (line 74). And as he rides through the countryside, the moon lights his path and illuminates key waymarks, such as “the gilded weathercock / Swim[ming] in the moonlight as he passed” (lines 95–96). At each point, the moon shines down, symbolizing the righteousness of American resistance.

The Spark

At the poem’s climax, when Revere takes off on his ride through the countryside to warn the towns of Middlesex, his horse’s hoof scrapes against the cobblestones and produces a spark (lines 75–80):

     And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark    
     Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
     That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
     The fate of a nation was riding that night;
     And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
     Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

It may at first seem strange that, in this climactic moment, the speaker’s attention would stray from Revere himself and focus on the tiny detail of a spark. However, in the brief passage that unfolds, the speaker emphasizes the symbolic significance of this spark, which “kindled the land into flame with its heat.” Historically, of course, no such blaze swept through New England on the night of Paul Revere’s ride. Rather, the speaker is describing a metaphorical fire, one that symbolizes the spirit of American resistance to the British. The spark that flew from the horse’s hoof may also be understood as a symbol for small action that can have significant effects. In this case, Paul Revere’s plan to warn his fellow countrymen of the British arrival by sea is the small action that sparks a fire of resistance that’s soon to sweep across the land.

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