The Highwayman

Author: Alfred Noyes

Illustrator: Murray Kimber

Peach's Picks Rating:



Year of publication:
Text: Alfred Noyes 1913, renewed 1941
Illustrations: Murray Kimber, 2005

City of publication: Tonawanda, NY

Publisher: Kids Can Press Ltd.

ISBN: 978-1-55337-425-1

Author website: No author site available. Information about the author can be obtained through the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica.

Illustrator website: http://www.murraykimber.com/

Media used for illustration: Charcoal, conté and acrylic on paper. The text was set using the fonts Streamline, Bodega Sans and Celeste.

Annotation: Bess, the innkeeper’s daughter, loves the highwayman. Their love ends in tragedy through betrayal by another man who is smitten with Bess. This version offers film noir style illustrations.

Personal reaction to the book: This newly illustrated version of the Highwayman poem by Alfred Noyes is still as romantic as the version I discovered in Childcraft years ago. Here, it has the dark edge of gang-land set in 1930s film noir style New York City. Bess, the innkeeper’s beautiful black-eyed daughter, is still in love with the highwayman depicted as a lone motorcycle rider. He greets her before heading off on a heist. They both desire a kiss. She leans out the window toward him. He can only reach and kiss her hair, driving the lovers’ longing even deeper into the reader’s heart. Tim, the ostler, who also loves Bess, betrays both to the FBI. They come and hold Bess hostage waiting for the highwayman to return. She is tied to the bedpost with a gun pointing to her breast. Bess waits listening for his return. As he approaches, she shoots herself in warning. The illustrations create a dark and foreboding mood. Sharp straight lines create tension in the pictures. The artist uses brown tones accented with purple wash to create a foreboding mood. Bess’ red nail polish and red blood seeping down her hands constricted by the tight ropes binding her to the bedpost foreshadow tragedy. The poem reads aloud well. It can be shared with small groups since the size of the book is too small to be seen by a large group. However, the size is very inviting for an individual reader. The design of this appealing slim volume includes a velum front paper giving the book a retro feel. Readers unfamiliar with the poem will be attracted to the cover of the book showing a gangster on a motorcycle. This newly illustrated version of the poem is sure to be enjoyed by secondary students. One slight problem with the illustrations is found on page 8. The illustration does not match the text. The text says “He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.” However, the illustration shows Bess lying in bed looking over her left shoulder out an open window with curtains blowing in the breeze.

General curricular connections:

• Poetry studies
• Alfred Noyes
• Graphic novels
• Theater classes – performance of the poem
• Pair with Romeo and Juliet (original play as well as the 1996 film version directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) / romance / tragic love 

Recommended grade levels:
School Library Journal recommends the book for grades 6 and up
Booklist recommends the book for grades 7-10
Peach's Picks recommends the book for grades 7 and up

Awards/Recognitions:
Nominee for Governor General's Award for Children's Illustrations, 2005
One of the Globe & Mail's top dozen children's books, 2005

Note: This entry meets the assignment criteria to review books that contain single book-length poems.

Rhythm: Poetic meter – Noyes created six feet in a line, the hexameter rhythmic pattern

Rhyme: Page 2-3; Rhyming pattern of AABCCB; for example:

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees (A)
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas (A)
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor (B)
And the highwayman came riding (C)
Riding, riding, (C)
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. (B)

Repetition: Page 5; “And he rode with a jeweled twinkle, is pistol butts a-twinkle, His rapier hilt a-twinkle…”

Onomatopoeia: Page 27; “Tlot-tlot” indicating the sound of horse-hoofs

Symbolism: Page 28; Picture of a horse on the motorcycle’s gas tank showing the motorcycle is the steed in this illustrated version of the poem

Metaphor: Page 2; “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas”

Book cover picture retrieved from http://www.kidscanpress.com/Canada/The-Highwayman-P5583.aspx