Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) was an English poet, short-story writer, and playwright, best known for his ballad "The Highwayman." Born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Noyes showed early literary talent and published his first collection of poems, The Loom of Years, in 1902, while still a student at Exeter College, Oxford.
Noyes was one of the most popular and commercially successful poets of the early twentieth century, though his traditional, romantic style fell out of critical favor as modernism rose to prominence. He lectured widely in America and held a visiting professorship at Princeton University from 1914 to 1923.
"The Highwayman" (1906), a dramatic narrative poem of love and sacrifice set in 18th-century England, remains one of the most widely anthologized and beloved poems in the English language. It is a staple of school curricula on both sides of the Atlantic.
