Answer Questions on a Poem: 'The Highwayman'

Highwaymen were land-based pirates, feared by travellers as they would seize stage coaches and rob them at gunpoint.

 

Read these first two verses from 'The Highwayman' and answer the questions.

 

 

*****************

 

The Highwayman

by Alfred Noyes

 

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.

 

He'd a French cocked-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.

 

*****************

 

You can read the poem again at any point by clicking on the red help button on the screen.

 

Let's get started!