The Highwayman is a narrative poem, written by Alfred Noyes and first published in Scotland in 1906. A Highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers (what we in Australia called a Bushranger).
Background
The 17th and 18th centuries saw the rise of a very wealthy class in England. As the rich grew richer, the poor grew poorer so that there was a huge difference between them. The rich attended parties, lived in fancy houses and holidayed by the sea. The poor lived in slums, could barely afford to eat and many of their children died before they reached 5 years of age. Along with this, improved roads connecting towns and cities meant that the wealthy were able to travel around a great deal more. These conditions led to the rise of the Highwaymen, who came to be called 'gentlemen of the road' because they often dressed in finery, much like the wealthy class, they stole from the rich, and they often shared some of their loot with the poor. Despite this romanticised view of them, the penalty for theft was death by hanging. The Highwaymen often showed scorn for the corrupt authorities when captured, and displayed humour and courage in the face of death.
While Noyes's poem was written in 1906, the last Highwayman robbery in England was in 1831, so the poem is set in the past, with slightly more old fashioned language than the poetry of the time.
It is widely regarded as a wonderful poem to help study poetic devices, because of it's strong use of simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, rhyme and rhythm.
Read through the poem first, to get an idea of the story, before studying it in depth. Use the notes at the end to assist with any unfamiliar words.
Background
The 17th and 18th centuries saw the rise of a very wealthy class in England. As the rich grew richer, the poor grew poorer so that there was a huge difference between them. The rich attended parties, lived in fancy houses and holidayed by the sea. The poor lived in slums, could barely afford to eat and many of their children died before they reached 5 years of age. Along with this, improved roads connecting towns and cities meant that the wealthy were able to travel around a great deal more. These conditions led to the rise of the Highwaymen, who came to be called 'gentlemen of the road' because they often dressed in finery, much like the wealthy class, they stole from the rich, and they often shared some of their loot with the poor. Despite this romanticised view of them, the penalty for theft was death by hanging. The Highwaymen often showed scorn for the corrupt authorities when captured, and displayed humour and courage in the face of death.
While Noyes's poem was written in 1906, the last Highwayman robbery in England was in 1831, so the poem is set in the past, with slightly more old fashioned language than the poetry of the time.
It is widely regarded as a wonderful poem to help study poetic devices, because of it's strong use of simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, rhyme and rhythm.
Read through the poem first, to get an idea of the story, before studying it in depth. Use the notes at the end to assist with any unfamiliar words.
Activity 1:
After reading/listening to the poem, use your journal to write a brief, one paragraph summary of the what you think happens in the poem. What is the story, or narrative about.
Activity 2: Answer the following comprehension questions.
(you can download these below if you'd like to type your answers)
After reading/listening to the poem, use your journal to write a brief, one paragraph summary of the what you think happens in the poem. What is the story, or narrative about.
Activity 2: Answer the following comprehension questions.
(you can download these below if you'd like to type your answers)
- What time of day did the highwayman arrive at the inn?
- What weapons was he carrying?
- How did he let the landlord’s daughter know he was there?
- What was the landlord’s daughter called?
- Who was listening secretly?
- What was his job at the inn?
- How did he betray the lovers?
- Who were the redcoats?
- What did they do to Bess?
- How did she manage to warn the highwayman?
- What did the highwayman do when he found out that Bess was dead?
- What did the locals say happened on winter’s nights?
the_highwayman_comp_qus.docx |
Activity 3: Poetic Devices
(Download below)
(Download below)
the_highwayman_–_poetic_devices.docx |
Rhyme
The first thing to notice about the form of this poem is the way the lines are divided up. The stanzas (those are like the paragraphs in a poem) are always six lines long. You'll also notice when you look at the poem that the fourth and fifth line in every stanza is about half as long as the other lines.
The pattern of the rhymes (what we call "the rhyme scheme") is pretty simple in this poem, and Noyes doesn't mess with it at all. We'll show you how it works by looking at the first stanza. We'll put the rhyming words in bold, and assign a letter to each different rhyming sound:
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, A
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, A
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, B
And the highwayman came riding-- C
Riding--riding-- C
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. B
Activity 4: Get creative!
Using this structure and rhyme scheme, can you write an alternative end to the poem, maybe one where poor Bess doesn't die!
eg:
Clip-Clop the hooves did echo in the frosty night.
The Highwayman came riding, brave and full of fight.
He rose up from his stirrups and cut her ropes with a confident air,
The Highwayman claimed his loved one,
his beautiful faithful loved one,
His faithful loved one who waited with a red love knot in her hair.
Theme
Themes are the main ideas or meanings/messages of a text. For example, love, betrayal....
Discuss with the people around you, what do you consider to be the main themes of The Highwayman?