# Death — Poetry character guide

> Death in Poetry by James Weldon Johnson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** bony Death, Old Death

**First appearance:** 0067-go-down-death

## Snapshot

A pale rider on a bloodless horse, summoned by God's thunder and sent to Savannah to bring Sister Caroline gently home.

## Who they are

Death waits in a shadowy place with his pale white horses until God's voice breaks like thunder and calls his name. He gallops down past suns and moons, and though his arms are icy, Sister Caroline smiles — he looks to her like a welcome friend. He is the collection's strangest comfort: not a terror but a courier, carrying the weary to rest in Jesus' arms.

## Relationships

### [Sister Caroline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/characters/sister_caroline)

_psychological_

Death personified interacts with Sister Caroline as a haunting or inevitable presence.

### [Sister Caroline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/characters/sister_caroline)

_psychological_

Death personified interacts with Sister Caroline as a haunting or inevitable presence.

## In the story

### [The White Witch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/the-white-witch)

The witch's kiss and embrace lead to spiritual death and draining of life.

### [Mother Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/mother-night)

Death is personified as the gentle embrace of Night, a welcome end to the 'feverish light' of life.

### [The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/the-glory-of-the-day-was-in-her-face)

Implied as the force that has taken the beloved woman, leaving the speaker in mourning.

### [Listen Lord](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/listen-lord)

Alluded to in 'the steep and slippery steps of death' and the journey to the grave.

### [The Prodigal Son](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/the-prodigal-son)

Referenced as 'bony Death' who will inevitably struggle with and overcome the young man.

### [Go Down Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/go-down-death)

Summoned by God, rides a pale horse to fetch Sister Caroline, carrying her gently to heaven.

### [The Judgment Day](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/the-judgment-day)

Referenced indirectly through the valley of death and the army of the dead rising from bursting graves.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/characters/death
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_13_se/characters