The Highwayman – Notes for parents

Introduction  It was written at the beginning of the twentieth century.  It is a story of a highway robber and his lady-love.  It’s a riveting story, filled with action and blood and betrayal, but he also weaves it all into a great love plot.

Basic story This poem starts out with a highwayman (that's a robber who holds people up on the road) visiting his girlfriend Bess at her father's inn. He's on the move (apparently he's got some robbing to do) so he only has time for one kiss. He promises that he'll be back by the next night at the latest.

The next evening, instead of the highwayman, some British soldiers show up. These guys are real jerks. They drink a bunch of beer, they tie up Bess, and then they wait at the windows to shoot the highwayman when he comes back. Bess is tied up with a gun at her chest, and she wriggles around until she has her finger on the trigger. Then, when she hears the highwayman's horse, she fires the gun, and gives her life to warn him about the ambush.

The highwayman tries to get away, but it doesn't work. He gets mowed down by the soldiers in the middle of the road, and dies in a pool of blood. Still, on certain winter nights, his ghost still rides down the highway to meet Bess.

Verse by verse analysis (stanza by stanza)

Stanza 1 Line 1 The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,  The speaker of this poem opens strong, with three big metaphors all in a row.  First he compares the wind to a "torrent of darkness." We imagine that "torrent" being like a black river, rushing and swirling along. Line 2 The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,  The next big metaphor compares the moon to a "ghostly galleon." A galleon is a big old ship, the kind that would have carried Spanish gold across the seas. So the moon is like a ship sailing through the sky.  You see the mood he's aiming for here? This is a spooky night time scene, a good setting for a sad, scary story. Line 3 The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,  Now he introduces the road, which is a major location in this poem. On this dark, windy night, it shines bright and white, a thin strip of light like a "ribbon of moonlight."  The bright road runs through a purple "moor" (those are the open, grassy fields that you find a lot in England). They aren't really purple of course, but the night and the moonlight must be making them look that way. Lines 4-6 And the highwayman came riding-- Riding--riding-- The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.  Here comes our main guy – the highwayman. All these lines tell us is that he's riding up to the old door of an inn.  Of course they do it with a little more style than that. They especially emphasize the repetitive rhythm of his "riding--riding--riding." You'll notice that this is a pretty simple story, but the speaker works hard to make it gripping for the reader. Stanza 2 Lines 7-8 He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;  This highwayman is a snappy dresser. He's got a French hat on, and a bunch of lace tucked into the top of his shirt.  His coat is made of velvet and it's claret-coloured (that's a deep red wine colour).  His breeches (pants) are made of doe skin (really soft leather made from deer hide). Line 9 They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh.  Apparently the pants fit tight, with no wrinkles, and his boots are thigh high.  Now if a man today tried to impress the ladies by wearing thigh high boots and tight pants and lace, it probably wouldn't work out so well. Let's just take it for granted that this kind of stuff used to be considered ‘studly.’  Plus these clothes give us a little hint of when this poem was set. We'd guess that it takes place some time in the eighteenth century, but definitely a long time before it was written (in 1906). Lines 10-12 And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, His pistol butts a-twinkle, His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.  This guy is dressed up so fancily that he seems to twinkle like a jewel.  These lines also let us know that he's heavily armed, with pistols and a rapier (a long thin sword).  Plus the sky is "jewelled" too. Everything in this stanza is glittering with beauty and excitement.

Stanza 3 Lines 13-14 Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;  The highwayman comes into the dark courtyard of the inn, making a lot of noise on the paving stones ("the cobbles"). He taps on the shutters that cover the windows, but everything is locked up, so he doesn't get any response. Lines 15-18 He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, Bess, the landlord's daughter, Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.  Trying again, he gives a whistle, and the landlord's daughter Bess shows up.  Apparently she's pretty good looking too, and the speaker spends some time telling us about her black eyes and long black hair.  When the highwayman shows up, Bess is braiding ("plaiting") a "love-knot" into her hair. This love-knot would be some kind of ribbon, tied in a knot to symbolize her love for (you guessed it!) the highwayman. The knot is dark-red, a color associated with love and passion, but also, of course, blood. More on that later.

Stanza 4 Lines 19-21 And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay,  Now, all of a sudden, we turn away from the couple we just met, and meet a third character. First we hear the creaking sound of a "stable-wicket" (that means a door or gate in a stable). Apparently someone is eavesdropping on the two lovers.  It turns out to be Tim, the ostler (the guy who takes care of the horses at an inn). Tim's a crazy- looking guy, with a pinched white face, insane eyes, and hair that looks like mouldy hay. Lines 21-23 But he loved the landlord's daughter, The landlord's red-lipped daughter, Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say--  Crazy Tim is also in love with Bess, although it's hard to imagine he has much of a chance. The speaker mentions her "red lips" which helps to emphasize her sexiness and the contrast with poor Tim's white face.  As Tim listens to the highwayman, the speaker tells us he is "dumb as a dog." In this case "dumb" just means silent, but the comparison to a dog is no accident. We're definitely supposed to notice the difference between the beautiful lovers and this pathetic, ugly servant.

Stanza 5 Line 25-26 "One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight, But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;  Now it's back to the highwayman, who tells his "bonny [pretty] sweetheart" that he's headed off to do some robbing tonight.  He promises her that he'll be back by morning, with gold in hand. Lines 27-30 Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, Then look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight, I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."  But…(and this is important) the highwayman warns Bess that he might be chased, that the law might "harry" (bother and harass) him all day.  In that case, he tells her to wait for nighttime ("moonlight"). Then he promises he'll come see her, no matter what, even if "hell should bar the way" (we might say "come hell or high water").

Stanza 6 Lines 31-33 He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;  Now we hear about the kiss goodbye, which is a pretty romantic moment in the poem.  The highwayman stands up in his saddle, and reaches up (Bess must be leaning out of a high window), just barely grabbing her hand. Then she lets her hair down from the window (the casement), a little like Rapunzel. He blushes bright red, like hot iron ("a brand") when her sweet smelling hair tumbles over him.  This is definitely supposed to be a sexy scene. Lines 34-36 And he kissed its waves in the moonlight, (Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!) Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.  The highwayman kisses Bess's hair, and the speaker makes a big deal about its "sweet black waves."  Notice that he also mentions the moonlight three times in three lines – it's a big part of the atmosphere of this poem.  Then the highwayman grabs the reins of his horse and takes off to do some robbing. That ends the first scene in this poem.

Stanza 7 Lines 37-39 He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon; And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon, When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,  Now we cut to the next day. The highwayman isn't back by dawn, or even by noon. Now the sun is setting, and he still isn't back.  The speaker takes a moment to notice the landscape again, and he brings us back to the image of the road being like a ribbon across the purple moors, almost the same words as he used in line 3.

Lines 40-42 A red-coat troop came marching— Marching--marching-- King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.  Then, a nasty surprise! Instead of the highwayman, a troop of British soldiers comes marching up to the door.  The speaker gives us a few useful details about the soldiers. He calls them "red-coats" and "King George's men." This lets us know for sure that we are somewhere in England (or at least the UK). It also lets us know that this poem is set sometime before 1830 (when George IV died).  In any case, these guys represent the law, and they're after the highwayman.

Stanza 8 Lines 43-44 They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead, But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;  Even though they're on the side of the law, these guys are clearly not very nice. They don't even talk to Bess's dad (the innkeeper), but they do drink his beer. On top of that, they gag Bess and tie her to the bed.  The speaker is letting us know who the villains of this story are. Line 45 Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side.  Now the soldiers set up an ambush for the highwayman. They wait up in Bess's window (our speaker seems to really like using the word "casement" instead of window), with their muskets ready.  This is a dangerous trap for the highwayman – these guys will shoot to kill.

Lines 46-48 There was death at every window; And hell at one dark window; For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.  The highwayman could be shot and killed from any window.  The worst thing of all though, is that Bess can see the road through the window from where she's tied up. That's why there is "hell at one dark window." The cruelty of the soldiers and the pain of her situation have put Bess in a private hell.

Stanza 9 Lines 49-50 They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest. They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast.  Not only do the soldiers tie Bess up "at attention" (as if she was a soldier standing up at attention), they make fun of her too. They make "sniggering jests" (mean little jokes).  Then they tied up a gun next to her, with the barrel pointing right at her chest. Maybe they did this to scare her, to keep her in line, although the speaker doesn't exactly say.

Lines 51-54 "Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say-- Look for me by moonlight; Watch for me by moonlight; I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!  Then they tell her to "keep good watch," which is a pretty cruel joke, since she'll be watching her boyfriend get murdered. Then they kiss her, just to be sleazy as well as mean.  If these guys were in a cartoon, they'd be twirling their moustaches and laughing maniacally.  Bess can think only of her "doomed" highwayman, and she remembers his promise to come back by moonlight. The speaker repeats lines 28-30 just to remind us what the highwayman said.

Stanza 10 Lines 55-60 She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good. She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood. They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, Cold, on the stroke of midnight, The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!  We think this scene feels like it's straight out of an action movie. The bad guys have the heroine tied up, and she struggles to get free. At first it seems impossible, but eventually she manages it and slips out of the ropes.  That's what happens here, except Bess isn't trying to escape. She's reaching for the trigger of the gun. She strains and struggles and the speaker really makes it seem like it's taking forever. Finally, at midnight, she grabs the trigger.

Stanza 11 Lines 61-62 The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest. Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.  She just gets the tip of her finger on the trigger, and she stops there. She stands up, at attention, with the tip of the gun under her breast.  By now we should be pretty curious about what Bess is up to. She's clearly got a plan, but we don't know what it is yet.

Lines 63-66 She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again; For the road lay bare in the moonlight; Blank and bare in the moonlight; And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.  She doesn't want the soldiers to hear, so she holds still. Besides, there's nothing to do now but wait. From what Bess can see, the road is empty and "bare in the moonlight."  See that moonlight cropping up again? It's everywhere in this poem.  All Bess feels is the blood in her veins, throbbing "to her love's refrain." Refrain is an interesting word there. It's a term for a repeated phrase in a poem, and there are plenty of those here. It could also be any repeated sound, say the sound of Bess's heart, or maybe the pounding of hooves. Stay tuned…

Stanza 12 Lines 67-68 Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear; Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?  Right after hearing about love's refrain, we hear (at the same time as Bess) an actual refrain, the steady repeating sound of horses' hooves. That's bad news, because it means the highwayman is coming back.  It's not clear right away if the soldiers have heard the tlot-tlot sound of the hooves. The tension is high. Lines 69-72 Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, The highwayman came riding, Riding, riding! The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!  Now the highwayman comes riding along the road ("the ribbon of moonlight") and appears over the top of the hill.  There's a little refrain, an echo of lines 4-5 with that "riding, riding" stuff.  Now the soldiers have heard for sure, and they start getting their guns ready ("looking to their priming").

Stanza 13 Lines 73-74 Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night! Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!  The speaker really draws out the highwayman's approach. We hear the sound of the hooves again and again, the only sound in the cold night.  He comes closer and closer, and Bess's face shines in the darkness. We're not totally sure why it's shining. Scared? Sweaty?

Lines 75-78 Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath, Then her finger moved in the moonlight, Her musket shattered the moonlight, Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.  Now Bess makes her move. She opens her eyes, takes a breath, pulls the trigger, and shoots herself in the chest.  It's a desperate move, but she did it for love, to warn the highwayman about the waiting soldiers. She gave her life to try to save him.

Stanza 14 Lines 79-80 He turned; he spurred to the west; he did not know who stood Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood.  The highwayman hears the warning, even though he doesn't know where it came from, and he takes off back to the west.  The speaker takes a moment to focus on the tragic scene of Bess, bent over the musket, soaked in blood. Pretty grim, huh?

Lines 81-84 Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew gray to hear How Bess, the landlord's daughter, The landlord's black-eyed daughter, Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.  Finally, the highwayman does hear what happened, although it's not clear how he finds out. His face goes gray when he hears the news.  We get another short review of poor Bess's death. A lot of this poem's impact is based on repetition.

Stanza 15 Lines 85-86 Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky, With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!  When he hears how Bess died, the highwayman makes a dumb move. He goes back.  The speaker makes it clear that he's almost crazy with sadness and anger. He curses and rides as fast as he can, swinging his sword as he goes.

Lines 87-90 Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, When they shot him down on the highway, Down like a dog on the highway, And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.  Then (you guessed it) the highwayman dies. He gets shot down by the British soldiers.  We get lots more little refrains in these lines including reminders of what the highwayman is wearing (like in lines 7-9).  We also hear that he is shot "down like a dog." Sharp poetry detectives will remember that the speaker used that same word to describe Tim, the crazy ostler, in line 24. Maybe there's a connection there. Maybe Tim had something to do with the highwayman's death?

Stanza 16 Lines 91-101 And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, A highwayman comes riding-- Riding--riding-- A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door. Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard; He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred; He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, Bess, the landlord's daughter,  Now we get the neat little ghost story ending. Even though Bess and the highwayman are dead, their spirits come back to haunt the night and play out this scene again and again.  The speaker drives this home by repeating the first stanza (lines 1-6) and the third stanza (lines 13-18) almost word for word.  The big difference is that now it's in the present tense. This really adds to the feeling of repetition. This isn't just a thing that happened once, it happens again and again, and could even be happening right now.

Line 102 Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.  We end with the image of Bess braiding her hair. In a way, it's almost like she never died, like she has a new life in this spooky ending. It takes the edge off the tragedy. The ghost story becomes almost comforting.

Symbols, Imagery and Wordplay.

The Wind This poem opens with three big metaphors, and we're going to run them all down for you, because we think they set the tone for the whole story. The first one has to do with the wind – apparently it's a "dark and stormy night."  Line 1: The speaker calls the wind a "torrent of darkness." This is a pretty intense image to start off a poem with. You can almost feel the violence, the force of that wind. It gives the poem a chaotic, exciting feel, even before we know what's going on.

The Moon The moon, and (especially the moonlight) is almost like a character in this poem. In fact, the word moonlight shows up nineteen times! It's as if the moonlight has soaked into everything, even taken over the poem. This is definitely part of the spooky, dramatic beginning too. Moonlight tends to be eerie, to make you see strange things in the shadows. That fits in with the ghost-story side of this poem.  Line 2: Here's a full out, prize-winning metaphor! The speaker compares the moon to a "ghostly galleon" (a big old ship) riding on a sea of clouds. Ever see a big orange moon coming up through the clouds? That's how we see this one, a huge moon lost in the ocean of the sky. Kind of cool, actually. Plus, it adds even more to the spooky, Halloweeny atmosphere of this first stanza.

 Line 30: We won't drag you through every mention of moonlight, but let's look at some key ones. This line is pretty dramatic. It's the spot where the highwayman promises to come back for Bess, no matter what. In a way, the highwayman and the moonlight get tied together. He's really a creature of the night in this poem, and the only time we see him in daylight (line 87) he's about to die. Maybe he's a vampire! Sorry, maybe we're a little Twilight-obsessed.

 Line 84: In a way, the moonlight is like punctuation in this poem. The image of the pale white moon lighting up the scene underlines key moments in the plot. This is a big line, full of the sadness of Bess' death. She waited in the moonlight, but she "died in the darkness." We should point out the alliteration there too ("died," "darkness"). All this sets us up for the ghost story about Bess and the highwayman. In a way they become prisoners of moonlight and darkness.

The Road The road is another thing that gets mentioned so often that it starts to seem like a character in the poem. At the beginning, middle, and end, the road is a main focus. After all it's the highwayman's territory. Actually, the road has a symbolic role to play here. It's the place of travel, danger, and violence. Bess, on the other hand, lives in the closed space of the inn, which is supposed to be safe, quiet, and stable. That's why it's such a shock when the soldiers bring the violence of the road into her home.  Line 3: The first time the speaker mentions the road; it's in a spiffy metaphor, which he circles back to several times. He compares the road to a "ribbon of moonlight." We bet you've seen this before, when you are walking on a dark night, sometimes the path in front of you almost seems to glow. Even if you haven't seen that, the speaker definitely helps you imagine it in this line.

 Line 86: The highwayman lives and dies on the road. In this line, we see his death charge. The image of the road "smoking behind him" is a little bit of hyperbole. Sure he's riding as fast as he can, but we know he isn't literally burning up the road. Maybe there's a puff of dust that looks like smoke. What this line really does is to give us a sense of how desperate and intense this last charge is. We're supposed to feel like we are burning down that road with him.

 Line 93: This line repeats (almost word for word) the stuff about the road as a ribbon in line 3. There's also a similar phrase on line 39. We call this kind of poetic repetition a refrain. You can think of it like the chorus in a song. It doesn't exactly add new information, but it reinforces an image, gives us a feeling of a steady rhythm in the poem. In a way, the road ties this whole poem together, connects the scenes and the lines to each other.

The Highwayman Our hero. We know he's a robber, but we have to like him anyway. He's well-dressed, daring, good to Bess, and a heck of a lot cooler than those soldiers. We should also point out that, while he's a specific guy in this poem, he's also a type, a kind of stock character. He's an outlaw, and he strikes the same pose as any gangster. He lives and loves fast and hard and he dies by the sword. The clothes change a little, but the guy underneath is the same in every story.  Line 7: When we first meet the highwayman, we just find out that he's riding up to the inn. But here, in the second stanza, the speaker starts to give us some specifics about what the highwayman is like. He does this in kind of a funny way – he doesn't tell us what the highwayman's done in the past, or what his face looks like. He starts right in by talking about his clothes. From his hat to his boots, from his pistol to his sword, we learn more about his clothes that we ever do about the man himself. This gives us a powerful visual image, and keeps us focused on the drama and excitement of the moment.

 Line 70-71: This is another refrain. The speaker repeats this line about the highwayman "riding, riding, riding" three times. Two cool things about this: first, it locks in the connection between the highwayman and the past-paced life of the road. Second, the word "riding" is a troche (that means the stress is on the first syllable: RID-ing). We think that makes this line sound a little like the clop of horse's hooves: DUM-da, DUM-da, DUM-da, RID-ing, RID-ing, RID-ing.

Bess She's our heroine, the other half of the pair with the highwayman. The poem basically orbits around this good- looking young couple. The speaker is really careful to point out that she's pretty. Well, more than that, he really focuses on certain aspects of her appearance, just like he did with the highwayman. We don't get to know that much about her, except that she's loyal and brave, but we get a lot of strong, lasting images of her body.  Line 17: At this first secret meeting between Bess and the highwayman, we learn that she is the landlord's daughter, that her name is Bess, and that she has long black hair. This isn't a lot of information, but in a way, it's all we need to know. The scene has been so carefully set up that we don't need a dissertation about either of these characters. A few details are enough for us to put together a picture.

 Line 56: Here's where Bess starts to show us how courageous she is. She struggles and fights until she can carry out her plan. She's not willing to remain passive. Again, the images are really sharp and well- defined. We can almost feel her hands twisting and slipping around inside the ropes.

The Colour Red This poem is packed with colours: black, purple, brown, white, tawny, etc. The most important color, though, is red. It comes in a bunch of shades, and shows up at different moments. It's hard for us not to connect it with the blood that soaks through this entire story, and also to see it as a symbol of passion and violence in general.  Line 8: This is our first reference to the color red. The highwayman's coat is the color of claret, a French wine. This detail helps us to picture how luxurious and beautiful the highwayman's gear is.

 Line 18: The love-knot in this line might take our vote for the most important symbol in the poem. The idea of a knot is a really great image for the kind of love we see here. It's complicated, tangled and hard to pull apart. In a way, the highwayman and Bess are so tied together that they pull each other down. The fact that this knot is dark red, the color of blood, just drives home the violent intensity of their love.

 Line 23: Bess's lips must be red enough that you would notice them, because it's one of the few descriptive words the speaker uses for her. This is supposed to be sexy, no doubt, but as we've already learned, the color red also points to dangerous passion and violence.

 Line 40: Yup, you guessed it, the bad guys in this poem come dressed in red. These soldiers are a pretty creepy bunch of guys, and even though they represent the law, we know we aren't supposed to like them. The fact that they wear red makes that color seem even more dangerous and menacing.

 Line 80: Now we really get down to it. Bess dies in a pool of her blood, and the speaker goes out of his way to point out that it's red. That seems obvious enough, but in a way, this is one of the things the poem has been building up to. All those subtle references to red were getting us ready for this image of terrible violence.

Tim the Ostler Tim is definitely the third wheel on this weird date. He's an eavesdropper and, frankly, kind of freaky. He loves Bess, but she's already got a man, and we don't think she'd go for him even if she didn't. He's a strange presence in this poem, partly because he only shows up once. Still, the image of his strange, scary face doesn't go away fast, and he must be there for a reason. We can't say for sure, but we think you're supposed to assume that he rats out the highwayman. Maybe it's just revenge, maybe he hopes he can get with Bess once the highwayman is out of the picture. It doesn't work out.  Line 21: Tim's appearance is described in a number of ways, but one of the most striking is the simile that compares his hair to moldy hay. That works well because Tim takes care of horses and probably spends a lot of time in the hay. At the same time, it just gives us a really clear image of his tousled, dirty-blond hair, and his lousy haircut. We bet the highwayman's hair is perfectly combed. Poor Tim, he doesn't stand a chance.

Rhythm of the poem

Noyes liked to keep his poetic style pretty traditional, and that really shows in this poem. The poem is broken up into even, regular chunks, and the pattern of the rhymes doesn't change at all from one part to the next.

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 English teachers 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

Themes in the poem Love  It would be hard to find a more important theme in "The Highwayman" than love. The love that Bess and the Highwayman share drives all the action, and, without it, there really wouldn't be a plot. Even if their love ends up killing them, it's clearly supposed to be a beautiful thing. Then there's Tim the ostler. He's in love too, but his love is much weirder and darker, a big contrast with the exciting passion of Bess and the highwayman.  Love is a both a beautiful and a destructive force in "The Highwayman." This contradiction forces us to reconsider our thoughts about the role of love.  The ghost story at the end of the poem softens the blow of the violent deaths, and makes it clear that the speaker is most interested in the beautiful, comforting aspects of love.

Violence  There's kind of a lot of gore in "The Highwayman." If it were a movie, we'd probably be creeping into R- rated territory. Both of the main characters die in a pool of their own blood, and the threat of violence is there almost from the beginning. The symbolic blood red color of the highwayman's coat and Bess's love knot tip us off that this is a poem where blood and violence and death are a major focus  Love and violence are completely intertwined in "The Highwayman." For each of the main characters, violence is the strongest expression of their love. In an odd way, this poem celebrates violence as much as love.  This poem condemns the violent life of the highwayman, since it brought a violent death on him and the innocent Bess.

Man and the natural world  From the number of times the speaker mentions moonlight (nineteen!) it starts to look like an obsession. He's always zooming out, reminding us of the natural world that is framing this human drama. The natural world gives "The Highwayman" its atmosphere, its sense of exaggerated reality. It's a major part of how the whole thing fits together.  It is the presence of the natural world and the way it is used that gives this poem its shape and intensity. It is what turns a simple story into an effective poem.

 Courage The emphasis on natural beauty allows the speaker to turn a depressing and violent story into the kind of pretty little poem that makes everyone feel good.  This might not be the first theme that jumps out at you, but it's definitely a major thread running through "The Highwayman." First there's the courage of the highwayman, who has to be brave to do his job. Whether or not that's the right kind of bravery is another question. Then there's Bess and her very brave (and maybe foolish?) sacrifice, as she tries to protect her lover. On top of that we get the British soldiers, who show us what the opposite of bravery looks like. It seems to us that this poem raises a lot of questions about the definition and the usefulness of bravery – questions that it intentionally doesn't answer.  One of the purposes of this poem is to force us to ask questions about the definition of courage. It purposefully creates ambiguous situations in which both the reasons for bravery and the effects it has are different from what we might expect.  This poem reverses expected gender roles by making Bess the most fearless character of all.

Appearance  The speaker of "The Highwayman" spends a lot of time talking about the way the main characters look. We get tons of detail about the highwayman's snappy dressing, and the speaker clearly wants us to know that Bess is good looking. On top of that, there's a pretty sharp contrast between the beautiful main couple and the ugly, sloppy, almost sub-human appearance of Tim the ostler. We usually try not to judge people based on looks, but this poem almost demands that we do just that.  Bess's hair and eyes mirror the stormy darkness of the natural world in this poem. The appearances of the world and of our heroine are meant to create a visual rhyme that helps give the poem its structure.  The speaker of this poem plays deliberately on our prejudices. He relies on us to assume that beautiful people (like the highwayman) do beautiful things, while ugly people (like Tim) behave in ugly ways.