The Highwayman

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1906

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Related Poems

"Immortal Sails" by Alfred Noyes (1947)

Composed in the later years of his life, “Immortal Sails” engages with many of the same themes of “The Highwayman”—love, immortality, nature, and the afterlife—but reflects Noyes’s own maturity as a poet, along with the deeper exploration of his religious beliefs that marked his later work.

"She Was a Phantom of Delight" by William Wordsworth (1807)

A well-known work by Wordsworth, this romantic poem from one of Noyes’s major influences demonstrates many of the popular themes of the romantic literary movement also used in “The Highwayman”: from the idealized woman to a fascination with the mystical, natural beauty, and the call of the supernatural.

"The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Another of Noyes’s favorite authors, Tennyson’s poem is also written as a romantic ballad and shares many parallels with the former’s work (despite its “higher” subject matter). Like Noyes’s poem, “The Lady of Shalott” narrates the tale of a mysterious, isolated woman, a handsome hero riding into town, and her doomed love and self-sacrifice.

"The Sea of Glass" by Ezra Pound (1917)

Born in the same generation, Pound was one of the most influential writers of the modernist movement, though he pursued an entirely different style and approach to poetry than Noyes. This brief poem has a similar theme—two lovers who meet and separate—and provides stylistic contrast from one of Noyes’s contemporaries.

Further Literary Resources

Collected Poems: Volume 1 by Alfred Noyes (1913)

“The Highwayman” is included in this large volume of poetry published in the first years of his career as an author. The collection includes “Drake”—a 200-page epic poem about Sir Francis Drake.

Alfred Noyes and the Reviewers by Elbridge Colby (1914)

Colby’s brief article gives the reader contemporary context for how Noyes’s early work, including the Collected Poems, was received in the United States—particularly at a time when modernism was beginning to gain momentum in certain literary circles.

The Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry by Jonathan Wordsworth and Jessica Wordsworth (2001)

This anthology of romantic literature from the 19th century provides helpful context in understanding the many influences from this era on Noyes’s “The Highwayman,” while offering how Noyes diverges from the tradition, as well.

Modernism: An Anthology edited by Lawrence Rainey (2005)

While Noyes’s lifetime ran parallel to the majority of the major figures in the modernist tradition, his poetry and other works remained rooted in a more formal style of poetry. This anthology offers both context for his literary era, and contrast to his work.