The Highwayman

The Highwayman was written by Alfred Noyes (1880-1958). Although it was published early on in his career - in a 1907 anthology - it is probably the best known of his works, widely admired for its imagery and some supposedly hidden moral, but in essence it is a rather sordid tale. The highwayman - who is not named - keeps a nighttime assignation with his lover, Bess, the daughter of an inn keeper, and tells her of a robbery he plans to commit later that night. They are overheard by an ostler who betrays them out of jealousy. The next day, a troop of soldiers appear at the inn, but their behavior is more reminiscent of a mob than of a disciplined fighting force. The inn keeper is abused, his daughter is tied up and gagged, and there are overtones of sexual abuse, though this is not stated explicitly, probably because of publishing restrictions. As the soldiers lie in wait for her lover to return, Bess manages not quite to free herself but to reach one of their guns, and ends up shooting herself dead. The highwayman is alerted, and rides off. The next day he learns of her death, but is hunted down and killed by the same soldiers, possibly having lost the will to live, and thus the two lovers are reunited for all eternity.

The Noyes poem has been set to music before, but the Loreena McKennitt version - which includes most but not all of this very lengthy poem - is probably the most complete. The poem was given an entirely different treatment from the point of view of the highwayman by Wishbone Ash with "Stand And Deliver."