# Leaves of Grass — Character guide

> Key figures in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

- [Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/narrator.md): This voice wanders city and shore, pausing over a dead prostitute at the dead-house and calling her body a more wondrous house than any capitol or cathedral. He is not a character so much as a consciousness that refuses 
- [Walt Whitman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/walt_whitman.md): Whitman names himself inside the verses, lounging through shops and fields, insisting that immigrants, buffalo, locomotives, and telegraph wires all belong in the same song. His distinctive tension is between a colossal,
- [My Captain](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/my_captain.md): He is the captain of a hard-won voyage, the figure whose 'pass-key of hearts' opens every door and whom President and sugar-field laborer greet as brother. The tension is unbearable: the prize is won, the people exult, a
- [Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/death.md): Whitman treats death as a companion rather than an enemy, the force that enfranchises the confined soul and makes the corpse at the city dead-house as sacred as a cathedral. The tension is that this gentle deliverer arri
- [America](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/america.md): America appears as a motherly, all-surrounding figure whose shores advance and retreat upon Whitman's poems, whose cities and backwoods villages are equally hers. Her tension is between the 'proudest material civilizatio
- [Democracy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/democracy.md): Democracy is figured as a larger, saner brood than any single savior or scripture, her saviors countless and latent within her own citizens. The tension is that her material triumphs—wars, visible growth—mean less than t
- [Osceola](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/osceola.md): Seminole leader who appears as a defiant figure in a later poem.
- [Washington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/washington.md): George Washington, the first U.S. president, referenced as a heroic figure.
- [Shakespeare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/shakespeare.md): William Shakespeare, cited as a literary giant and influence.
- [Homer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/homer.md): Ancient Greek poet, invoked as a foundational bard.
- [Satan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/satan.md): The devil, appearing as a symbolic figure of rebellion and darkness.
- [Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/christ.md): Jesus Christ, referenced as a divine and suffering figure.
- [Adam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/adam.md): Biblical first man, symbol of primal humanity and innocence.
- [Hercules](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/hercules.md): Mythological hero, used as a metaphor for strength and labor.
- [Paumanok](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/paumanok.md): Native American name for Long Island, personified as a starting point.
- [Old Salt Kossabone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/old_salt_kossabone.md): An aged sailor character in a late poem about memory and the sea.
- [General Philip Sheridan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/general_philip_sheridan.md): Union general in the Civil War, referenced as a military hero.
- [Walter Scott](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/walter_scott.md): Scottish novelist and poet, cited as a literary influence.
- [Champollion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/champollion.md): French scholar who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, mentioned briefly.
- [The Crusaders](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/the_crusaders.md): Medieval Christian warriors, invoked as historical figures.
- [Pioneers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/pioneers.md): Settlers and explorers celebrated in a poem of westward expansion.
- [Heroes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/heroes.md): Generic heroic figures praised throughout the collection.
- [Dread Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/dread_mother.md): Personified maternal figure, possibly representing nature or death.
- [The Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/the_master.md): A teacher or lord figure addressed in several poems.
- [The General](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/the_general.md): A military commander referenced in a war context.
- [Capella](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/capella.md): A star in the constellation Auriga, personified briefly.
- [Mediums](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/mediums.md): Spiritual intermediaries or channels, referenced in a poem.
- [Priests](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/priests.md): Religious officials, often critiqued in the text.
- [Eleves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/eleves.md): Students or disciples addressed in a pedagogical poem.
- [Allons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/allons.md): French for 'let us go,' personified as a call to journey.
- [Venerable Asia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/venerable_asia.md): Personified ancient continent, symbol of age and wisdom.
- [Lo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/lo.md): Exclamatory figure representing sudden revelation or vision.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters