Character guide

The Hermit

major

Also known as hunted

He is the poem's fevered narrator, a hermit whose devotions are shattered when he glimpses the pitiless chastity of a goddess's statue and returns by night to possess it. His passion is both sacrilege and worship: he kisses the cold ivory until dawn, well content to die for such a sight. His transgression sets the poem's central tension between renunciation and consuming appetite, and his flight afterward carries the reader into the second half of the tale.

The Teacher of Wisdom

supporting

He speaks as one who has known the Love that moves the sun and stars, yet measures his own ardour against a young priest's first ecstasy before the Eucharist and finds it greater. His flaw is excess: too stormy a passion breaks the reed of his own song, and he kneels until idolatry wearies the beloved. His confessions of silence and remorse anchor the collection's meditation on love that outruns its own expression.

The Young Man

supporting

He is the addressee and mirror of the poet's ardour, the 'Dear Heart' before whom the speaker kneels all night in idolatry. His beauty makes the lover's lips fail and his sweetest singing go out of tune, so that passion works its own wrong. He embodies the early, rapturous phase of love in these poems, the moment before silence and parting claim their share.

Queen Venus

supporting

Also known as Venus

She presides over the collection's mythological register, hymned alongside Artemis and Athena in a chorus of captive women mourning fallen Troy. Her presence sharpens the poems' ache of love set against slavery, exile, and death as a lover and lord. As queen of the gardens of the sky, she is the fleeting radiance the speaker begs to tarry, knowing she is overfleet.

Narcissus

minor

A mythological youth who falls in love with his own reflection.

Anthony

minor

A historical or literary figure referenced in the poems.

Queen Henrietta Maria

minor

The queen consort of Charles I, appearing as a character in a poem.

The Warders

minor

Guardians or keepers mentioned in the narrative.

Athena

minor

The Greek goddess of wisdom, appearing in mythological references.

Byron

minor

The Romantic poet Lord Byron, referenced as a figure in the poems.

Christ

minor

Also known as Dear Christ, Lord Christ

The central figure of Christianity, invoked in religious poems.

Dante

minor

The Italian poet Dante Alighieri, referenced as a literary figure.

Keats

minor

The Romantic poet John Keats, referenced in poems about art and love.

The Wretched Cyprian

minor

Also known as the Cyprian Queen

A sorrowful figure associated with Cyprus, likely Venus in a tragic aspect.

Young Hylas

minor

Also known as Hylas

A beautiful youth from Greek myth, companion of Heracles.

Gaston de Foix

minor

A French military commander from the Italian Wars.

Helen

minor

Also known as Queen Helen

Helen of Troy, the legendary beauty whose abduction sparked the Trojan War.

Persephone

minor

Also known as Singer of Persephone

The Greek queen of the underworld, daughter of Demeter.

Poseidon

minor

Also known as huge Poseidon, bold Poseidon

The Greek god of the sea, appearing in mythological contexts.

Joseph of Arimathea

minor

The biblical figure who buried Jesus after the crucifixion.

Love

minor

Also known as Sweet, Flower of Love, Γλυκύπικροϛ Ερωϛ Sweet

The personification of love, addressed as a character in poems.

Mary

minor

The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, referenced in religious poems.

Ellen Terry

minor

Also known as Camma To Ellen Terry

A famous Victorian actress, addressed in a poem.

Bassanio

minor

A character from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Theodoric

minor

A historical king of the Ostrogoths, referenced in poems.

Pan

minor

Also known as old Pan, Great Pan

The Greek god of the wild, shepherds, and rustic music.

Dionysos

minor

Also known as young Dionysos, the Bassarid

The Greek god of wine, ritual madness, and ecstasy.

Endymion

minor

Also known as young Endymion

A beautiful youth from Greek myth loved by the moon goddess Selene.

Daphnis

minor

Also known as Young Daphnis

A Sicilian shepherd from Greek pastoral poetry.

Death

minor

Also known as the Lord of Death

The personification of death, appearing as a figure in poems.

Artemis

minor

The Greek goddess of the hunt and wilderness.

Pallas

minor

Also known as Pale Pallas, Pale

An epithet for the goddess Athena, meaning maiden or warrior.

Slander

minor

The personification of malicious gossip or defamation.

The Dryads

minor

Tree nymphs from Greek mythology, appearing in pastoral poems.

Lear

minor

The tragic king from Shakespeare's King Lear.

Roma

minor

The personification of the city of Rome.

Aeschylos

minor

The ancient Greek playwright, author of the Oresteia.

Milton

minor

The English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.

Huntress Dian

minor

Also known as Dian

The Roman goddess of the hunt, equivalent to Artemis.

Proserpine

minor

The Roman queen of the underworld, equivalent to Persephone.

Jove

minor

The Roman king of the gods, equivalent to Zeus.

Bacchus

minor

Also known as young Bacchus

The Roman god of wine, equivalent to Dionysos.

Old Jeannette

minor

An elderly female character mentioned in a poem.

Faun

minor

A mythological creature, half-man and half-goat, from Roman myth.

Apidanus

minor

Also known as great Apidanus

A river god from Greek mythology, associated with a river in Thessaly.

Adonis

minor

Also known as young Adonis

A beautiful youth from Greek myth, loved by Aphrodite.

Panthea

minor

A female character from Greek myth or literature, possibly from Xenophon.

Antinous

minor

A beautiful youth from Greek myth, lover of the emperor Hadrian.

Eros

minor

The Greek god of love, equivalent to Cupid.

Charmides

minor

Also known as Young Charmides

A beautiful youth from Greek literature, subject of a poem by Wilde.

Amaryllis

minor

A stock name for a shepherdess in pastoral poetry.

Isabella

minor

A female character from literature, possibly from Keats or Shakespeare.

Beatricé

minor

The beloved of Dante Alighieri, appearing in his works.

Sphinx

minor

Also known as False Sphinx

A mythical creature with a human head and lion's body, from Greek myth.

Grave Odysseus

minor

The cunning hero of Homer's Odyssey, depicted as solemn.

Sin

minor

The personification of moral transgression, often in religious contexts.

Nilus

minor

The personification of the Nile River in Egyptian mythology.

Oreads

minor

Also known as the Oreads

Mountain nymphs from Greek mythology.

Reedy Styx Old Charon

minor

The ferryman of the dead across the river Styx in Greek myth.

Cassandra

minor

A Trojan prophetess cursed to speak true prophecies no one believes.

Rosa Mystica

minor

A mystical rose, often a symbol of the Virgin Mary in poetry.

Tamburlaine

minor

Also known as lordly Tamburlaine

A historical conqueror, subject of Christopher Marlowe's play.

Agamemnon

minor

The king of Mycenae and leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War.

Apollo

minor

The Greek god of music, poetry, and prophecy.

Mnemosyne

minor

The Greek goddess of memory and mother of the Muses.

Ammon

minor

Also known as White Ammon

An Egyptian deity, often identified with Zeus or Jupiter.

O Melancholy

minor

The personification of melancholy, addressed in a poem.

Mars

minor

The Roman god of war.

Neptune

minor

The Roman god of the sea, equivalent to Poseidon.

Fate

minor

The personification of destiny or inevitable outcome.