The Highwayman (poem)

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For other uses see Highwayman (disambiguation)

"The Highwayman" is a narrative poem by Alfred Noyes, published in 1906. The poem was written when Noyes was a young man, and brought him immediate and long-lasting success. It tells the story of a nameless highwayman who is in love with a landlord's beautiful daughter named Bess. Tim, the insanely jealous hostler (stableman) betrays the highwayman to the authorities; an action which paves the way for the brutal death of the lovers.

The poem makes effective use of written imagery for background scenery ("the wind was a torrent of darkness amongst the gusty trees") and repetitious phrases to create the sense of a horseman riding at ease through the rural darkness to a lovers' tryst or of soldiers marching down the same road to ambush him.

It was interpreted and set to music by Phil Ochs and later set to music by Loreena McKennitt. It is featured in the 1985 film Anne of Green Gables.

In 2006 the Scottish children's author Nicola Morgan used the poem as the background for the historical novel The Highwayman's Footsteps.

The video of the Fleetwood Mac song Everywhere is a visual depiction of the Noyes poem.

External links

• The Highwayman, audiobook (Jane Aker) with text from LoudLit
• The Highwayman, text and commentary at Minstrels

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 11:23:36 PDT (GMT -0700)
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