The Highwayman (poem)
"The Highwayman" is a narrative poem written by Alfred Noyes, first published in the August 1906 issue of Blackwood's Magazine, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The following year it was included in Noyes' collection, Forty Singing Seamen and Other Poems, becoming an immediate success. In 1995 it was voted 15th in the BBC's poll for "The Nation's Favourite Poems".[1]
Plot
The poem, set in 18th century England, tells the story of an unnamed highwayman based on Dick Turpin[citation needed] who is in love with Bess, a landlord's (innkeeper) daughter. Betrayed to the authorities by Tim, an ostler (stableman), the highwayman escapes ambush when Bess sacrifices her life to warn him. Learning of her death he dies himself in a futile attempt at revenge, shot down on the highway. In the final stanza, the ghosts of the lovers meet again on winter nights.
Background
The poem was written on the edge of a desolate stretch of land in West Surrey known as Bagshot Heath, where Noyes, then aged 24, had taken rooms in a cottage. In his autobiography, he recalled: "Bagshot Heath in those days was a wild bit of country, all heather and pinewoods. 'The Highwayman' suggested itself to me one blustery night when the sound of the wind in the pines gave me the first line." The poem was completed in about two days.[2]
Literary qualities
The poem makes effective use of vivid imagery for the background and of repetitious phrases to create the sense of a horseman riding at ease through the rural darkness to a lovers' tryst or of soldiers marching down the same road to ambush him.
"The Highwayman" is reputed to be "the best narrative poem in existence for oral delivery."[3] (The family has a recording by the author.)[4]
Almost half a century later, Noyes wrote, "I think the success of the poem... was because it was not an artificial composition, but was written at an age when I was genuinely excited by that kind of romantic story."[2]
Adaptations and use in popular culture
The poem was adapted as a cantata for mixed voices and orchestra by American composer Deems Taylor in 1914, first performed at the MacDowell Festival, Peterborough, N.H., with E.G. Hood as director, and the famous baritone Reinald Werrenrath, as soloist.
In 1933, a setting of the poem for chorus (SATB) and small orchestra by the English composer C. Armstrong Gibbs received its first performance at Winchester College Music School.[5]
In 1951, the poem was used as the basis for a feature-length Hollywood film of the same name, starring Philip Friend and Wanda Hendrix.[6] Noyes writes in his autobiography that he was pleasantly surprised by "the fact that in this picture, produced in Hollywood, the poem itself is used and followed with the most artistic care".[2]
In 1965, Phil Ochs composed a musical interpretation and recorded the poem (missing out a few verses) set to this music on his second album I Ain't Marching Anymore.
In 1979, UK singer-songwriter John Otway performed a version of the poem set to a musical backdrop, for his album Where Did I Go Right.
In 1981, Oxford University Press published an edition of the poem illustrated by Charles Keeping in black and white. He won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject.[7]
In 1985, a portion of the poem is recited by Anne Shirley (played by Megan Follows) in the 1985 movie Anne of Green Gables.
The video of the 1987 Fleetwood Mac song "Everywhere" is a visual depiction of the Noyes poem.
In 1997, Loreena McKennitt used an adapted version of the poem (three verses were omitted) for track #5, "The Highwayman", in her album The Book of Secrets. Her setting of the poem has been covered by Irish musician Andy Irvine.
In 2002, the American author Deborah Ballou published The Highwayman: A Novel Inspired by Alfred Noyes' Poem.
The Scottish children's author Nicola Morgan used the poem as the background for her historical novels, The Highwayman's Footsteps and The Highwayman's Curse, published by Walker Books in 2006 and 2007. Of the former, Morgan wrote, "Noyes' poem informs my book so overtly, so deeply, that I needed permission to use it."[4][8]
In 2011, Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson published "The Highway Rat", copying some of the stylistic aspects and content of the poem.
See also
References
- ^ "Alfred Noyes". BBC Mid Wales. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
- ^ a b c Alfred Noyes. Two Worlds for Memory. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1953, p. 38.
- ^ Iona and Peter Opie (eds). The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse. Oxford University Press, 1983, p. 399.
- ^ a b Nicola Morgan. "Following in the Highwayman's Footsteps". Carousel. October 2006. Adapted at Books from Scotland.com.
- ^ Armstrong Gibbs, p. 15.
- ^ The Highwayman (1951 film)
- ^ (Greenaway Winner 1981). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
- ^ "Nicola Morgan's highwayman tales really do stand and deliver". The Times. 14 December 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
External links
- Wikisource: The Highwayman, full text on Wikisource