The Highwayman
PART ONE
I
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
II
He'd a French ******-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shuters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
IV
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonliglt, and galloped away to the West.
PART TWO
I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.
II
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .
VI
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!
VII
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
IX
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
* * * * * *
X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
XI
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Can anyone break this down or summarize this poem . i have read it 5 times and still dont get it?
Highway man wants landlords daughter
Daughter wants highwayman
The Kings men (plod) came to the Inn
To set a trap for the highwayman
The landlords daughter kills herself
the sound warning off her suitor (highwayman)
Last couple of verses%26gt; Ghoststory now
the highwan keeps coming, the girl is still waiting.
Mark
Reply:Sure, no problem. I actually really like this poem. I'll go stanza by stanza.
I-- This stanza gives you the setting. The wind blows through the trees. The moon's refelction is on the sea, and the moonlight lights up the road, and on this road a criminal (in this case someone who attacks and robs people on the road) is riding his horse toward an inn.
II--This stanza describes the higwayman.
He's wearing a hat that's tilted to one side and lace (like a tie) around his neck. He's wearing a velvet coat, and smooth deer skin pants. The boots he wears go up past his knee!
You can see his weapons, pistols and a sword (only the handles though). They gleam like jewels under the stary sky.
III--This stanza begins the action of the poem.
He walks noisily on the cobblestone path up to the in, and knocks with his whip on the windows closed shutters, but the inn is closed and locked up for the night.
He whistles so that the landlords daughter, Bess, knows he's there. Bess is braiding a red love-knot into her long lack hair (think of the red love-knot like a ribbon, but I kept love-knot in there because the red references blood, and the love-knot is a bond the two share, these words are supposed to give you the image that the two are knotted together in love, described by red, either red for passion, or red for bloody, personally, I think it is both.)
IV--More action
In the yard, the gate creeks. Tim is there waching them and listening to the. His face is pale, his eyes look like those of a crazy person, and his yellow hair looks unwashed (the word mouldy makes him sound foul, as if he threatens the lover's relationship.) Tim loves red lipped Beth (note the repetiontion of "red"). As he listens, he hears the robber talk to Bess.
V. this is what Tim heard the highwayman say.
"Kiss me, Sweetheart, Tonight I'm going out to get a prize (he's going to rob someone, the loot is his "prize"), but don't worry, I'll be back with the first light (just before dawn);
But if i run into trouble and can't make it back durring the day,
I'll come back to you tomorow night, in the moonlight, and even hell won't stop me."
VI--Concludes the lover's meeting
He mounts his horse, he's so high up he can barely even hold her hand.
But she unbraids her hair from the red ribbon/love-knot (what she was doing before he came) He blushes and her black sweet-smelling hair flys over his own chest. He kisses her hair and then rides away into the west. (Note the repetion of moonlight, it's fairly prevalent thoughout the poem, giving it importance, the most important parts of the story happen in the moonlight)
Now for part II!
I-- Rising action in the story, the suspense begins!
The Robber, her lover, did not come in the morning nor anytime that day. After the sun had set and before the moon had rose (the time when the road looked the same as the night before i.e. before it was the same time her love had come the previous night) the King's soldiers in their red coats come marching up to the inn.
II-- More rising action
They didn't talk to the landlord (Bess's father), only drank ale (kinda like beer). They tied Bess to her bed and put something (like a rag) in her mough so she couldn't scream.
Two soldiers kelt by her head, holding guns.
She thought she would never get out of this alive. And as she looked out a window, she could see the road on which lover would ride, and they would kill him too.
III--
The soldiers laughed as they tied her so tight that she couldnt' move. They had even tied a gun next to her so that the barrel way lying over her chest towards her head.
They kiss her and tell her to "Watch carefully" sarcastically, as if she's a guard. And she remebers her lover (the "dead man" i.e. their going to kill him) saying that nothing will keep him from coming later that night.
IV--What bess does after the soldiers leave her.
She tries to get her hands free, and she struggles so much that sweat and blood (stuggling against the rope cut her wrists) wet her hands. She keeps working at the knots for hours, and each hour seemed like a year. Finally at the the stroke of midnight, she manages to get the tip of her finger on the trigger of the gun.
V-- continued
She didn't need more than one tip of her finger on the trigger, she pretended to be tied up. Bess wouldn't struggle again, she didn't want the soldiers to hear hear her and come in. She stays still, watching the road, and even the blood in her veins sounds like her lover coming up the road on his horse.
VI--Here comes the highway man!
She hears the "tlot-tlot" of her lovers horse. She hears it in the distance and wonders if the soldiers are deaf that they don't hear it (apparently the soldiers aren't making any noise or movements, so she thinks they didn't hear the horse). Now the highwayman (her lover) rides over the hill. The soldiers load their guns, and Bess stands, bracing herself with what's to come.
VII--Bess warns the highway man
The highway man comes nearer and nearer, the horse's hoofs echo in the cold night air. Bess's face lights up and her eye's grow wide. She takes one last breath and uses her finger tip (the one she got on the trigger) to shoot herself to warn her lover coming up the road.
VIII--The highway man learns the truth!
He ran away, back in the direction he had come; he didn't know that Bess had shot herself, that it was her bloody body hanging over the gun.
In the morning, he hears how Bess had watched for him to come in the moonlight and had died to warn him.
IX--Death of a highway man.
He goes back there, riding like a crazy person and cursing the sky. Dust flys up behind him and he holds his sword high in the air. In the afternoon sun, his spurs (metal things on his boots) looked blood-red, and his velvet coat was the color of red wine. And then they shot him, just like he was a dog. He lay in the road in a pool of his own blood, with the lace still around his throat (compare this with the first description we see of him).
X-- Epilouge, the ghosts!
And they say, on a winters night, just like the night he last saw his lover, a ghostly highwayman rides once more up to the inn.
XI--He climbs noisily over the cobblestone path up to the inn, and knocks on the window with his whip. But the inn is quiet and locked up. And he wistles to the window, and there Bess is, braiding her hair with a red love-knot/ribbon.
THe last two stanzas are nearly the same as the first and third, only now we know that they are both dead, and their ghosts are repeating the last time the lovers were together.
Reply:Part 1
I- it was a stormy night but someone was traveling by horse
II- he was somewhat wealthy with fitted pants and jewelry and of French origin
III- he came to the inn and made a bunch of noise trying to gain admittance but nobody was there except the innkeepers daughter and she feel in love at first site
IV- Tim was spying on them from the stable
V- He had to leave to rob the gold but would come back the next day unless they got hot on his trail in which case he would come back at midnight
VI- he gave her a big kiss and rode off
Part 2
I- he did not come back all day but at the end of daylight the english army came
II- they drank beer and set a trap for the robber by tying the innkeepers daughter to the bed
III- they set a musket against her
IV she struggled against the knots she was tied with and finally at midnight got her finger against the musket trigger
V-she waited for her lover to come back for her
VI-the highway man came riding and the army checked their trap
VII- she waited til he got close enough and then pulled the trigger, killing herself
VIII- he heard the gunshot and started to ride off again- shortly later he figured out it was Bess that had commited suicide to warn him
IX- he was angered and rode back for revenge and they shot him down
X- and now when its a stormy night, the ghost of the highway man comes riding
XI- and he visits the ghost of bess
Reply:its very plain and very famous. Bess loves naughty dashing highwayman. Tim is the local but law-abiding dork - pines also for Bess, and betrays highwayman to the redcoats, who play a cruel trick on Bess, tying her up with a gun at her throat - she pulls the trigger to warn boyfriend and dies as he gallops off. when he finds out he goes nuts and comes screaming back- - they shoot him of course. But now the ghosts of Bess and hwyman still get together. Dork missed out totally, dude
Reply:wikipedia.org defines a highwayman:
Highwayman was a term used particularly in Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries to describe robbers who targeted people traveling by stagecoach and other modes of transport along public highways. They would use or threaten violence in order to seize money and other valuables from their victims.
what happened in the story is this highwayman fell in love with the landlord's daughter, Bess. Someone else was in love with her, Tim the ostler, who knew that the highwayman would be visiting Bess the next night. He possibly set it up so that the authorities, the red coats, would wait for the highwayman and set up a trap. So Bess couldn't warn him, they set a pistol against her chest. Instead, Bess pulled the trigger herself, and committed suicide to warn her lover "with her death". Except, her ploy didn't work. They were still able to kill the guy. So, their ghosts still roam the earth and meet each other(?)...
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