How Are Poetic Devices Used In The Highwayman

Why do you think poets use poetic devices? Is it just a format for writing a poem so a reader can understand what is being expressed? The poet uses these such devices to help make the poem more interesting and exciting. These devices were used in the poem The Highwayman. The interesting question the poet wanted you ponder was a moral one. What would you do if you were in love with a thief and had the ability to save his life? Would you save his life if it meant ending your own? This is what happened in “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. A landlord’s daughter named Bess was in love with a thief and he had plans to rob a very expensive place. Someone informs the soldiers. They tie Bess up and want her to watch her lover die. She attempts to warn the highwayman that he is in danger by firing a gun but in turn kills herself. The poetic devices of imagery, repetition, similes and metaphors are used in this poem to help explains what led up to this point.

For example “The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor.” In my mind, I see a town, in the 1800s, empty and quiet. It is a quiet and cloudy night. In the text, it also says, “He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, A coat of velvet, and breeches of brown doeskin. They fitted with never a wrinkly. His boots were up to the thigh.” In my mind, I see a rebellious-looking man flying down the empty road on a horse. He is in very nice clothing. In the text, it also says, “For the road lay bare in the moonlight.” I see a dirt path only lit by moonlight, but since it is a cloudy night, not much can be seen. Another example of imagery is, “Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat; When they shot him down on the highway.” In my mind, I see a man who was nicely dressed and now is facedown in a dirt road with blood all over his nice