Blackout Poem- “The Highway Man”

The poem “The highway man” written by Alfred Noyes is about a fancy highway man who his job is to steal from people in the roads. The main character is in love with a woman who her name is Bess and he tells her that he will come back soon after doing his job but when he wasn’t home another man who was in love with Bess told soldier about the highway man’s place and they went to his house. The soldiers came to his house and tied his wife, so they could catch him when he would come back. When the highway man was coming back and he was near the house, Bess killed herself with a shoot to warn him with sound. He saw his wife dead and became angry and wanted to revenge but they killed him. The theme of the poem is that a rubber can also be a hero of a story and how he can love someone and to be killed for his love. Another message that the poem represents is that jealousy can destroy everything when nobody expected. The poem is significant because it represents the messages well that the audience forget that the highway’s man job is rubbing and actually he is not a good guy and it shows how love impresses someone and make a hero from him. There are so many poetic devices during the poem, the first time is in the first line and it is a metaphor and it’s comparing wind with torrent, ” The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees”(1). There is an example of simile which is comparing the highway man and a dog, ” Dumb as a dog he listened,”(23). When the highway man was coming back to his home, the author showed his horse sound by onomatopoeia, “ Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence!” (71). At the end of the poem the highway man and his love are both dead but the legend of The Highway Man is alive for ever and it shows how a rubber can become legend.