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

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Thy

**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

A grieving mother whose slain children make her the ancient emblem of sorrow too vast for speech, invoked where mourning needs a name.

## Who they are

Niobe stands in the collection as the mythic figure of a parent undone by loss, her grief so total it becomes stone. The poems return to her when consolation must reckon with sorrow that refuses easy comfort, as in elegies where parents are told not to deplore a child's death. Her presence gives the volume's religious consolation something hard to push against.

## Relationships

### [Jove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/jove)

_rivalry_

Jove (Zeus) punishes Niobe for her pride, leading to the death of her children in a mythological conflict.

### [Jove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/jove)

_rivalry_

Jove (Zeus) punishes Niobe for her pride, leading to the death of her children in a mythological conflict.

## In the story

### [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 proud Phrygian queen who boasts of her lineage and children, scorns Latona, and suffers the loss of all her offspring.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poems_on_various_subjects_religious_and_moral_se/characters/niobe
- 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