It’s a tossup as to whether the most famous or best-known poem in America is Clement Moore”s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (aka “Twas the Night Before Christmas”), first published in 1823, or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride,” (1860). My money is on “Paul Revere’s Ride.” Whole generations of schoolchildren, myself included, grew up reciting the lines that begin “Listen my children, and you shall hear…”
Both poems are no longer taught in most of America’s public schools, but I know from my grandsons’ experience that they are taught (with great gusto) in many private schools, especially those offering a classical education. “Paul Revere’s Ride” commemorates one of the significant of the beginning of the American Revolution, a horseback ride at night to warn the cities of Lexington and Concord that British troops were coming.
That ride occurred 250 years ago tomorrow.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
Artwork: the illustration accompanying the poem in the January 1861 edition of The Atlantic Magazine.
Some Thursday Readings
“If You Had Been Here,” a poem for Holy Week – Story Warren.
On publishing Charlotte Bronte’s miniature book of poems for the first time – R.B. Russell at Literary Hub.
The Classical Girl’s Top 10 Holy Works for Holy Week – Terez Rose at The Imaginative Conservative.
Sweet Tea and Sacraments: Flannery O’Connor, the American South, and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition – Raleigh Adams at Front Porch Republic.
“Sing a Song of Sixpence,” poem by Mother Goose – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
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