“The Highwayman” written by Alfred Noyes is a narrative poem that illustrates the theme that shows that love can be dark. In the poem, it states, “The landlord’s black-eyed daughter, had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there” (lines 83-84). This establishes that love can be dark because the landlord’s daughter, Bess, killed herself just so she can give the highwayman a warning. Therefore, the highwayman can know that their are red-coat men at the inn to hunt him down.. In the text it also states, “When they shot him down on the highway, down like a dog on the highway, and lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat” (lines 88-90). This proves that love can be dark because the highwayman
