The fear lay in the illustration on the fiftieth page, an illustration at which he could never bear to look at. The old book names “The Midnight Express” had the strangest fascination for the boy even though he had never quite grasped the story itself, having tried to read the book night after night but keeps falling asleep, and never remembering its details the following day. Midnight Express is a dark short story which tells the tale of a twelve year-old boy’s fear of a battered old book, bound in read buckram. “It was the story of a man who, in childhood, long ago, had chanced upon a book, in which there was a picture that frightened him.” Likewise, his work at this time was criticized by some for its refusal to embrace the modernist movement. He was a noted critic of modernist writers, particularly James Joyce. In 1914, Noyes accepted a teaching position at Princeton University, where he taught English Literature until 1923. His increasing popularity allowed the family to live off royalty cheques. Noyes married Garnett Daniels in 1907, and they had three children.

Drake, which appeared serially in Blackwood's Magazine, was a two-hundred page epic about life at sea. Among his best-known poems from this time are The Highwayman and Drake. His books were widely reviewed and were published both in Britain and the United States. Though he failed to earn a degree, the young poet published his first collection of poetry, The Loom of Years, in 1902.īetween 19, Noyes published five volumes of poetry including The Forest of Wild Thyme (1905) and The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems (1907). In 1898, Alfred attended Exeter College in Oxford. His father was a teacher and taught Latin and Greek and in Aberystwyth, Wales. Alfred Noyes was the son of Alfred and Amelia Adams Noyes.

The Sun Cure by Alfred Noyes