# Death — Poetry character guide

> Death in Poetry by Oscar Wilde.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** the Lord of Death

**First appearance:** 0133-the-house-of-judgment

## Who they are

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

## In the story

### [Θρηνῳδία](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/chapter)

Personified as the Lover and Lord, the final solace for the captive women.

### [Άντιστροφή Β](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/chapter)

Addressed as 'Lover and Lord' in the final lines, representing the speaker's embrace of mortality.

### [A Fragment from the Agamemnon of Aeschylos](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/a-fragment-from-the-agamemnon-of-aeschylos)

Personified as the healer of all earthly pain, close at hand for Cassandra.

### [Sen Artysty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/sen-artysty)

Referenced indirectly through the crown of thorns and the painful awakening.

### [Eleutheria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/eleutheria)

Referenced in 'Ave Imperatrix' as the Lord of Death and in the imagery of fallen soldiers.

### [Ave Imperatrix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/ave-imperatrix)

Implored to give up the dead soldiers from foreign graves.

### [Louis Napoleon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/louis-napoleon)

The 'Lord of Death' is invoked as the soul descends to tell the mighty Sire.

### [Requiescat](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/requiescat)

The poem centers on the death of a young woman, now at rest.

### [The New Helen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/the-new-helen)

Mentioned in 'the lotus-leaves which heal the wounds of Death,' symbolizing mortality and its relief.

### [Chanson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/chanson)

Referenced through imagery of the hempen rope, narrow bed, cypress, rue, and lilies at the head.

### [The Dole of the King’s Daughter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/the-dole-of-the-king-s-daughter)

Present through the slain knight, dead page, and the ravens feasting on the dead.

### [The Fourth Movement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/the-fourth-movement)

Mentioned in 'At Verona' as a preferable fate to exile, and in 'Taedium Vitae' as a contrast to worldly strife.

### [Flower of Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/flower-of-love)

Described as the silent pilot who comes at last after the storm of youth.

### [The Ballad of Reading Gaol](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/the-ballad-of-reading-gaol)

Personified as the 'Lord of Death' who enters the prison to claim the condemned man.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/iii)

Death is personified as the 'Lord of Death' who enters the prison to claim the executed prisoner, described with icy breath and a rope of shame.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/chapters/v)

Referenced as 'living Death' that chokes the prison with fetid breath, and as the Lord of Death waiting for holy hands.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters/death
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_18_se/characters