# Apollo — Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral character guide

> Apollo in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Richard Wilson Apollo, Wilson, Divine Apollo

**First appearance:** 0046-niobe-in-distress-for-her-children-slain-by-apollo-from-ovid-s-metamorphoses-book-vi-and-from-a-view-of-the-painting-of-mr-richard-wilson

## Snapshot

The god of poetry and music, invoked as both inspiration and judge, whose laurel the speaker longs to snatch even as she mourns her 'grov'ling mind.'

## Who they are

Apollo presides over the classical pantheon Wheatley calls on in her opening address to Maecenas, the patron whose favor she courts. He embodies the impossible standard — Homer, Virgil, Terence — against which she measures her own 'fault'ring music,' and his partial grace to 'one alone of Afric's sable race' becomes a quiet, pointed question. His presence frames the book's central tension: a poet asking whether the Muses will answer a voice like hers.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Apollo, as god of poetry, is invoked by the narrator as a patron or source of artistic inspiration.

### [Alphenor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/alphenor)

_rivalry_

Alphenor, a son of Niobe, is slain by Apollo as part of the divine punishment of Niobe.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Apollo, as god of poetry, is invoked by the narrator as a patron or source of artistic inspiration.

## In the story

### [Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral)

Classical figure invoked in the poems, representing divine inspiration and artistic patronage.

### [An Hymn to the Morning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/an-hymn-to-the-morning)

Referenced as 'the illustrious king of day' whose rising radiance drives away the shades.

### [On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marshall. 1771](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/on-the-death-of-dr-samuel-marshall-1771)

Invoked as a symbol of healing, now gone from his earthly house.

### [Niobe in Distress for Her Children Slain by Apollo, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book VI and from a View of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/chapters/niobe-in-distress-for-her-children-slain-by-apollo-from-ovid-s-metamorphoses-book-vi-and-from-a-view-of-the-painting-of-mr-richard-wilson)

The god who, at Latona's request, slays Niobe's sons with arrows.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/apollo
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters