1. Poems that Tell Stories:
“The Highwayman”
and
“Annabel Lee”

2. Common Core Focus Standards
• Reading Literature 7.5 Analyze how a poem’s form
or structure contributes to its meaning.
• Reading Literature 7.7 Compare and contrast a text
to an audio, video, or multimedia version.
• Reading Literature 7.4 Determine the meaning of
words or phrases as they are used in a text,
including figurative and connotative; analyze the
impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds
on a specific stanza of a poem.

3. Check Prior Knowledge
What do you already know
about highwaymen?

8. Thinking Routine (Making Connections): Use these slides of art
work to create a story of how this paintings connect.

11. Connection game: Take these slides of art work to add to your
connection story of how this paintings connect.
Thinking Routine

12. Background
The highwayman in this famous poem is a robber
who lived in England in the 1700s. Highwaymen
used to stop stagecoaches on the lonely
moorlands of northern England and Scotland to
rob the rich passengers of money and jewels.
Some highwaymen were considered heroes by
the Scots because they shared the money with
the poor. Highwaymen were sometimes dashing,
romantic figures who dressed in expensive
clothes. The poem is based on a true story that
the poet heard while he was on vacation in the
part of England where highwaymen used to lie in
wait for stagecoaches.

13. The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes (p. 161)
The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping 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, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, 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.

14. 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 black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
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."
He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.

15. He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching
Marching marching
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
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 by 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.
They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle 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."

16. 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, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at 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 in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, 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 redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.

17. 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.
He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and 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.
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 in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

18. And still on 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 gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding
Riding riding
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
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

19. SOMEBODY WANTED BUT SO
______________________ (name of character)
WANTED ______________,
BUT __________________,
SO ___________________ .
Repeat as needed

20. How does the
poem’s form
contribute to its
meaning?

22. structure =
characteristics of the poetic
form (what it looks like /
sounds like)

23. structure = EXAMPLE
Does it have a rhyme
scheme?
Is there a meter?
Does the poet use
repetition?

24. stanza =
section of a poem (like a paragraph)

25. meter =
regular rhythm of a poem
(like a drum beat); based
on stressed and unstressed
syllables

26. narrative poem =
poem that tells a story

27. The wind was a torrent of darkness
upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon
tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight
looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding
Riding riding
The highwayman came riding, up to
the old inn door.
In the first
stanza,
which lines
rhyme?
A
A
B
B
C

28. He'd a French cocked hat on his
forehead, and a bunch of lace at
his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and
breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his
boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the
jeweled sky.
In the
second
stanza,
which lines
rhyme?
D
D
E
E
F

29. Label the rhyme scheme for the rest
of the poem. How does the rhyme
scheme effect your experience as a
reader?
HINT: Start with F

30. Photo by Luz Adriana Villa A. - Creative Commons Attribution License http://www.flickr.com/photos/11599314@N00 Created with Haiku Deck
“STAY GOLD, PONYBOY. STAY GOLD.”

31. Changes the
literal meaning.
Includes
symbol,
metaphor,
simile,
personification
Example
“Stay gold,
Ponyboy. Stay
gold.”
Gold is a color and
it symbolizes ???

32. Photo by @Doug88888 - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/29468339@N02 Created with Haiku Deck
SIMILE
How public—like a frog!

33. compares two
unlike things
using like, as, or
resembles
Example
“How public—like
a frog!”
SIMILE
How public—like a frog!

34. Photo by Alan Cleaver - Creative Commons Attribution License http://www.flickr.com/photos/11121568@N06 Created with Haiku Deck

35. compares two
unlike things
(without a word
such as like)
Example
That the powerful
play goes on and
you may
contribute a verse.

36. Photo by Edgar Barany - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/40579921@N00 Created with Haiku Deck

37. when an object
or thing
represents an
idea
Example
I wandered lonely
as a cloud
The color gold and
sunsets in The
Outsiders

38. Photo by Great Beyond - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/26104563@N00 Created with Haiku Deck

39. when an object
or animal has
human-like
traits
Example
I saw a crowd, a
host of daffodils

40. The moon was a ghostly
galleon tossed upon
cloudy seas (l. 2)
Draw a Picture:
• Simile or Metaphor?
• What is being
compared?
• What does it mean?

41. The road was a ribbon of
moonlight looping the
purple moor (l. 3)
Draw a Picture:
• Simile or Metaphor?
• What is being
compared?
• What does it mean?

42. SYMBOL
Bess, the landlord's
daughter
Plaiting a dark red
love-knot into her long
black hair (l. 16)
Blood-red were his spurs
in the golden noon,
wine-red was his
velvet coat (l. 86)
THE COLOR RED
• What does the color red
mean to you?
• What might it
SYMBOLIZE in the
poem?

43. Topics Themes = Message or Truth about life
(Choose 1)
• I think the author message may be…
• Maybe the author is trying to say…
• People need to…
• Life is like this when…
• love
• betrayal
• death
• hope / despair
•
•

44. The Highwayman Video

45. What did you observe in the film?
• I noticed
• I saw
• I observed

46. Compare:
• One similarity between the poem and
the film is…
• One difference between the poem and
the film is…
• Overall, I prefer _____ because…

47. Highwayman Music Video
• “Highwayman” performed by
Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings,
Willie Nelson, and Kris
Kristofferson

48. Highwayman Music Video
• How is this perspective similar to /
different than “The Highwayman”
by Alfred Noyes?

49. Highwayman Music Video
• How are the song and poem
similar? How are they different?

50. “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe

51. READ AND REREAD
• WHAT DO YOU NOTICE?

52. READ AND REREAD
• WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU
HAVE?

53. READ AND REREAD
• WHAT IS YOUR GOLDEN LINE?

54. READ AND REREAD
• WHAT ELSE DO YOU NOTICE?

55. ballad
– from medieval times
– meant to be heard (sung or
spoken)
– usually 4-line stanzas with rhyme
scheme
– usually dramatic or tragic
(sometimes comedic)

56. Photo by Kathy Cassidy - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/57634636@N00 Created with Haiku Deck
• What rhymes do you see in
“Annabel Lee”?
• Write some words that rhyme.
• Label them as end, internal, or
near rhymes.

57. Photo by Lee Ann L. - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License http://www.flickr.com/photos/92854641@N00 Created with Haiku Deck

58. a purposeful
exaggeration
to make a
specific point
Example
The speaker
exaggerates
about…

59. Photo by Leo Reynolds - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/49968232@N00 Created with Haiku Deck

60. repetition
of the same
consonant
sound for
poetic
effect
Example
We strike
straight. We
sing sin.
The s sound
works
because…

61. Photo by Very Quiet - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/35051723@N05 Created with Haiku Deck

62. words or
phrases
that sound
like what
they
describe
MORE
EXAMPLES

63. Photo by Sergiu Bacioiu - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License http://www.flickr.com/photos/31191642@N05 Created with Haiku Deck

64. sounds,
words, and
phrases
repeated on
purpose in
order to
create
rhythm and
emphasize
important
ideas
Example
What
repeats in
“Annabel
Lee”?

65. More Poetic Terms

66. Photo by TheNickster - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/49503073847@N01 Created with Haiku Deck

67. description
that
appeals to
the five
senses
Example
“Over the
cobbles he
clatters
and clangs
in the dark
inn-yard…”
What
sense(s)
are
described?

68. Photo by nathanrdavis - Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/55554587@N02 Created with Haiku Deck

69. an
emotional
association
or feeling
that comes
with a
word;
may be
positive or
negative
Example
Which
synonyms
for hot are
positive?
Which are
negative?
What other
synonyms
can you
think of?

70. Photo by David Glover - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License http://www.flickr.com/photos/99021790@N00 Created with Haiku Deck

71. literal or
dictionary
definition
of a word
Example
Same
denotation
but different
connotations:
-skinny
-slender
-slim
-thin
-scrawny

72. Topics Themes = Message or Truth about life
(Choose 1)
• I think the author message may be…
• Maybe the author is trying to say…
• People need to…
• Life is like this when…
• love
• betrayal
• death
• hope / despair
•
•