The Highwayman (poem)

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For other works see The Highwayman

“The Highwayman” is a poem by Alfred Noyes published in 1906. The poem was written when Noyes was a young man, and brought him immediate and lasting success. It tells a tale of a nameless highwayman who is in love with a landlord's daughter, named Bess. Tim, the jealous and possibly insane ostler (stableman), resents the highwayman and contacts the authorities; an action which paves the way for the brutal death of the lovers.

It was interpreted and set to music by Phil Ochs and later set to music by Loreena McKennitt.

In 2006 Scottish children's author Nicola Morgan used it as the background for the historical novel The Highwayman's Footsteps, which imagines that the highwayman and Bess had a daughter, brought up by her father until his death when she was seven, and who grew up hating the redcoats for her parents' tragic killings, and following in her father's footsteps.

[edit] External links

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