The Highwayman Flashcards
by Alfred Noyes — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Highwayman
What is the basic plot of "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes?
A highwayman visits Bess, the landlord's daughter, promising to return by moonlight. Tim the ostler betrays them to soldiers, who ambush the inn. Bess sacrifices herself to warn the highwayman, and he is later shot riding back in grief.
What happens to Bess at the climax of the poem?
Bess fires a musket into her own chest to warn the approaching highwayman of the soldiers' ambush. The sound of the shot alerts him to flee, saving his life at the cost of her own.
What happens to the highwayman after he learns of Bess's death?
He rides back toward the inn "like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky" and is shot down on the highway by the soldiers. He dies in his blood on the road with "the bunch of lace at his throat."
How does the poem end after both lovers have died?
The final two stanzas describe the ghosts of the highwayman and Bess reuniting on winter nights. He still rides up to the inn-door, and she still waits at the window plaiting a love-knot into her hair.
Who is Bess in "The Highwayman"?
Bess is the landlord's black-eyed daughter and the highwayman's lover. She is the poem's tragic heroine who sacrifices her life to warn the highwayman of the soldiers' trap.
Who is Tim the ostler, and what role does he play?
Tim is a stable hand at the inn who is secretly in love with Bess. Described as pale-faced with "eyes like hollows of madness," he betrays the highwayman to the King's soldiers out of jealousy, setting the tragedy in motion.
How is the highwayman described in the poem?
He is presented as a dashing, romantic figure wearing a French cocked-hat, a claret velvet coat, brown doe-skin breeches, and thigh-high boots. His pistol butts and rapier hilt twinkle "under the jewelled sky."
What is the central theme of "The Highwayman"?
The central theme is love and sacrifice. Both Bess and the highwayman give their lives for each other, and the ghostly epilogue suggests that true love transcends death.
How does the poem explore the theme of betrayal?
Tim the ostler betrays the highwayman to the soldiers out of jealous, unrequited love for Bess. His betrayal is the catalyst for the entire tragedy, contrasting his selfish motives with the lovers' selfless devotion.
What moral commentary does the poem make about law and outlawry?
The poem inverts traditional morality by portraying the highwayman as gallant and the King's soldiers as cruel sadists who bind and mock Bess. Noyes suggests that living honorably outside the law can be more noble than enforcing it.
How does the supernatural ending reinforce the theme of eternal love?
The ghostly epilogue shows the lovers' spirits still meeting on winter nights, repeating the poem's opening imagery in present tense. This circular structure suggests their love is unbroken by death or time.
What three metaphors open the poem, and what do they establish?
The wind is "a torrent of darkness," the moon is "a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas," and the road is "a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor." They establish a dark, romantic, atmospheric setting.
What is the effect of the onomatopoeia "Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot" in the poem?
The repeated "Tlot-tlot" mimics the sound of approaching hoofbeats, building tension as the highwayman nears the ambush. It puts the reader in Bess's position, hearing what she hears.
What is the rhyme scheme and meter of "The Highwayman"?
The poem uses an AABCCB rhyme scheme throughout. The meter is hexameter mixing iambs and anapaests, creating a galloping rhythm that mimics horse hoofbeats.
How does Noyes use repetition and refrain in the poem?
Key phrases like "riding -- riding -- riding" and "look for me by moonlight" recur across stanzas, building dramatic momentum and connecting the lovers' promise to the tragic climax.
What role does foreshadowing play in "The Highwayman"?
Tim the ostler's sinister description -- pale face, hollow eyes, listening "dumb as a dog" -- foreshadows his betrayal. The dark red love-knot in Bess's hair foreshadows the bloodshed to come.
How does Noyes use contrast between the highwayman and Tim the ostler?
The highwayman is described with jewelled, colorful, dashing imagery while Tim has a "white and peaked" face and hair "like mouldy hay." This visual contrast mirrors their moral opposition in the story.
What does the word "ostler" mean in the poem?
An ostler (also spelled "hostler") is a person who tends horses at an inn or stable. Tim the ostler works at Bess's father's inn, which gives him the opportunity to overhear the highwayman's plans.
What is a "casement" as used in the poem?
A casement is a window or window frame that opens on hinges. Bess loosens her hair through the casement to reach the highwayman below, and later sees the road through it while bound by soldiers.
What does "rapier" mean in the context of the poem?
A rapier is a slender, sharply pointed sword used for thrusting. The highwayman carries one with a twinkling hilt, and later brandishes it high as he rides back to avenge Bess's death.
What is the significance of the line "Her musket shattered the moonlight"?
This line captures the moment Bess fires the gun into her own chest. The moonlight -- symbol of romance and the lovers' bond -- is literally shattered by the gunshot, marking the violent end of their earthly love.
What does the highwayman mean when he says "I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way"?
He is making a passionate vow that nothing -- not danger, capture, or even death -- will prevent him from returning to Bess. The promise proves tragically prophetic: he does return, but only as a ghost.
What is the meaning of "Down like a dog on the highway" in the final battle scene?
The simile compares the highwayman's death to that of a dog -- undignified and violent. It echoes the earlier simile describing Tim listening "dumb as a dog," linking betrayal to its fatal consequence.