Page 5 Examples

Some of the onomatopoeia and alliteration have been highlighted for you in the poem "Windy Nights".

Listen to how this classic poem has been arranged below.  Which do you like better, the song or the reading?


Windy Nights


by Robert Louis Stevenson

WHENEVER the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and  loud.
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

Sometimes background information is required to understand a poem.

  • What is the poem "Windy Nights" about?
  • Who is the galloping man?

Thieves called Highwaymen would roam the roads under cover of darkness robbing travellers. Imagine how dark it would be without electricity.

Imagine your terror upon meeting an armed bandit on a pitch black, lonely road. Imagine the speed and suddenness with which he stole your money.

Highwaymen were as swift as the wind.

The Highwayman

by Alfred Noyes

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the 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.



  Please contact your teacher if you have questions.