The Wind
This poem opens with three big metaphors, and we're going to run them all down for you, because we think they set the tone for the whole story. The first one has to do with the wind – apparen...
The Moon
The moon, and (especially the moonlight) is almost like a character in this poem. In fact, the word moonlight shows up nineteen times! It's as if the moonlight has soaked into everything, even take...
The Road
The road is another thing that gets mentioned so often that it starts to seem like a character in the poem. At the beginning, middle, and end, the road is a main focus. After all it's the highwayma...
The Highwayman
Our hero. We know he's a robber, but we have to like him anyway. He's well-dressed, daring, good to Bess, and a heck of a lot cooler than those soldiers. We should also point out that, while he's a...
Bess
She's our heroine, the other half of the pair with the highwayman. The poem basically orbits around this good-looking young couple. The speaker is really careful to point out that she's pretty. Wel...
The Color Red
This poem is packed with colors: black, purple, brown, white, tawny, etc. The most important color, though, is red. It comes in a bunch of shades, and shows up at different moments. It's hard for u...
Tim the Ostler
Tim is definitely the third wheel on this weird date. He's an eavesdropper and, frankly, kind of freaky. He loves Bess, but she's already got a man, and we don't think she'd go for him even if she...