# Mrs. Porter — Poetry character guide

> Mrs. Porter in Poetry by T. S. Eliot.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0035-iii-the-fire-sermon

## Who they are

Mentioned in The Waste Land, associated with a bawdy ballad and spring rain.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Mrs. Porter is a lower-class figure mentioned in a bawdy song, representing vulgarity and the sordid side of life observed by the narrator.

### [Mr. Apollinax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/mr_apollinax)

_social_

Mr. Apollinax and Mrs. Porter are linked through the narrator's associative imagery, contrasting intellectual pretension with crude reality.

### [Sweeney](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/sweeney)

_social_

Mrs. Porter and Sweeney are linked in a sordid, possibly sexual context, representing low-life debauchery.

### [Mr. Apollinax](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/mr_apollinax)

_social_

Mr. Apollinax and Mrs. Porter are linked through the narrator's associative imagery, contrasting intellectual pretension with crude reality.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Mrs. Porter is a lower-class figure mentioned in a bawdy song, representing vulgarity and the sordid side of life observed by the narrator.

## In the story

### [III: The Fire Sermon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/iii-the-fire-sermon)

Mentioned in the ballad-like refrain, associated with a sordid, comic ritual of washing feet in soda water.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/mrs_porter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters