# Lurid Lew — Poetry character guide

> Lurid Lew in Poetry by Ring Lardner.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** David R. Lewis Banker, Dave, David, Davey

**First appearance:** 0008-to-the-new-one

## Snapshot

A banker known as David R. Lewis, nicknamed Lurid Lew, who drifts through the narrator's social orbit as a figure of colorful, slightly disreputable reputation.

## Who they are

Lurid Lew belongs to the narrator's wider circle of acquaintances, a banker whose nickname suggests a past or persona at odds with respectable finance. The tension lies in that gap between his staid professional title and the lurid handle attached to him, a discrepancy the poems never fully resolve. He matters as a supporting presence in the collection's social landscape, one of the many named figures whose nicknames and quirks give the narrator's world its dense, gossipy texture.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Lurid Lew is a shady or flamboyant acquaintance, involved in the narrator's underground social scene.

## In the story

### [Opening Chorus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se/chapters/opening-chorus)

Bid farewell as 'Lurid Lew'

### [David R. Lewis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se/chapters/david-r-lewis)

The subject of the limerick, a Chicago banker known for lending to those in need but not to poets.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se/characters/lurid_lew
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_19_se/characters