# Poetry — Character guide

> Key figures in Poetry by Oscar Wilde.

- [The Hermit](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_hermit.md): 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 kis
- [The Teacher of Wisdom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_teacher_of_wisdom.md): 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
- [The Young Man](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_young_man.md): 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 
- [Queen Venus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/queen_venus.md): 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, a
- [Narcissus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/narcissus.md): A mythological youth who falls in love with his own reflection.
- [Anthony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/anthony.md): A historical or literary figure referenced in the poems.
- [Queen Henrietta Maria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/queen_henrietta_maria.md): The queen consort of Charles I, appearing as a character in a poem.
- [The Warders](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_warders.md): Guardians or keepers mentioned in the narrative.
- [Athena](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/athena.md): The Greek goddess of wisdom, appearing in mythological references.
- [Byron](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/byron.md): The Romantic poet Lord Byron, referenced as a figure in the poems.
- [Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/christ.md): The central figure of Christianity, invoked in religious poems.
- [Dante](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/dante.md): The Italian poet Dante Alighieri, referenced as a literary figure.
- [Keats](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/keats.md): The Romantic poet John Keats, referenced in poems about art and love.
- [The Wretched Cyprian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_wretched_cyprian.md): A sorrowful figure associated with Cyprus, likely Venus in a tragic aspect.
- [Young Hylas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/young_hylas.md): A beautiful youth from Greek myth, companion of Heracles.
- [Gaston de Foix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/gaston_de_foix.md): A French military commander from the Italian Wars.
- [Helen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/helen.md): Helen of Troy, the legendary beauty whose abduction sparked the Trojan War.
- [Persephone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/persephone.md): The Greek queen of the underworld, daughter of Demeter.
- [Poseidon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/poseidon.md): The Greek god of the sea, appearing in mythological contexts.
- [Joseph of Arimathea](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/joseph_of_arimathea.md): The biblical figure who buried Jesus after the crucifixion.
- [Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/love.md): The personification of love, addressed as a character in poems.
- [Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/mary.md): The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, referenced in religious poems.
- [Ellen Terry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/ellen_terry.md): A famous Victorian actress, addressed in a poem.
- [Bassanio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/bassanio.md): A character from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
- [Theodoric](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/theodoric.md): A historical king of the Ostrogoths, referenced in poems.
- [Pan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/pan.md): The Greek god of the wild, shepherds, and rustic music.
- [Dionysos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/dionysos.md): The Greek god of wine, ritual madness, and ecstasy.
- [Endymion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/endymion.md): A beautiful youth from Greek myth loved by the moon goddess Selene.
- [Daphnis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/daphnis.md): A Sicilian shepherd from Greek pastoral poetry.
- [Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/death.md): The personification of death, appearing as a figure in poems.
- [Artemis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/artemis.md): The Greek goddess of the hunt and wilderness.
- [Pallas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/pallas.md): An epithet for the goddess Athena, meaning maiden or warrior.
- [Slander](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/slander.md): The personification of malicious gossip or defamation.
- [The Dryads](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/the_dryads.md): Tree nymphs from Greek mythology, appearing in pastoral poems.
- [Lear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/lear.md): The tragic king from Shakespeare's King Lear.
- [Roma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/roma.md): The personification of the city of Rome.
- [Aeschylos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/aeschylos.md): The ancient Greek playwright, author of the Oresteia.
- [Milton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/milton.md): The English poet John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.
- [Huntress Dian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/huntress_dian.md): The Roman goddess of the hunt, equivalent to Artemis.
- [Proserpine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/proserpine.md): The Roman queen of the underworld, equivalent to Persephone.
- [Jove](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/jove.md): The Roman king of the gods, equivalent to Zeus.
- [Bacchus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/bacchus.md): The Roman god of wine, equivalent to Dionysos.
- [Old Jeannette](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/old_jeannette.md): An elderly female character mentioned in a poem.
- [Faun](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/faun.md): A mythological creature, half-man and half-goat, from Roman myth.
- [Apidanus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/apidanus.md): A river god from Greek mythology, associated with a river in Thessaly.
- [Adonis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/adonis.md): A beautiful youth from Greek myth, loved by Aphrodite.
- [Panthea](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/panthea.md): A female character from Greek myth or literature, possibly from Xenophon.
- [Antinous](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/antinous.md): A beautiful youth from Greek myth, lover of the emperor Hadrian.
- [Eros](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/eros.md): The Greek god of love, equivalent to Cupid.
- [Charmides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/charmides.md): A beautiful youth from Greek literature, subject of a poem by Wilde.
- [Amaryllis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/amaryllis.md): A stock name for a shepherdess in pastoral poetry.
- [Isabella](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/isabella.md): A female character from literature, possibly from Keats or Shakespeare.
- [Beatricé](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/beatrice.md): The beloved of Dante Alighieri, appearing in his works.
- [Sphinx](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/sphinx.md): A mythical creature with a human head and lion's body, from Greek myth.
- [Grave Odysseus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/grave_odysseus.md): The cunning hero of Homer's Odyssey, depicted as solemn.
- [Sin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/sin.md): The personification of moral transgression, often in religious contexts.
- [Nilus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/nilus.md): The personification of the Nile River in Egyptian mythology.
- [Oreads](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/oreads.md): Mountain nymphs from Greek mythology.
- [Reedy Styx Old Charon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/reedy_styx_old_charon.md): The ferryman of the dead across the river Styx in Greek myth.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters