# Saint Mary Woolnoth — Poetry character guide

> Saint Mary Woolnoth in Poetry by T. S. Eliot.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Mary, Saint

**First appearance:** 0033-i-the-burial-of-the-dead

## Who they are

A church personified in The Waste Land, marking time with a dead sound on the final stroke.

## Relationships

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

_psychological_

Saint Mary Woolnoth is a church that serves as a landmark of spiritual emptiness and mechanical routine in the narrator's urban landscape.

### [Stetson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/stetson)

_social_

Saint Mary Woolnoth and Stetson are linked as part of the same desolate urban scene, with Stetson being a fellow commuter or soldier.

### [Perseus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/characters/perseus)

_psychological_

Perseus is a mythological figure juxtaposed with Saint Mary Woolnoth, creating a surreal contrast between heroic myth and modern sterility.

## In the story

### [The Waste Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/the-waste-land)

The church that keeps the hours with a dead sound on the final stroke of nine, marking the time in the Unreal City.

### [I: The Burial of the Dead](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/i-the-burial-of-the-dead)

The church that keeps the hours with a dead sound on the final stroke of nine, marking the time in the Unreal City.

### [Ash-Wednesday](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/ash-wednesday)

Referenced as the Lady in white, the veiled sister, and the Blessed sister/holy mother who intercedes and is the object of devotion.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_21_se/chapters/iv)

Referenced through 'Mary's colour' and the silent sister veiled in white and blue, evoking Marian imagery.

## Links

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