# Benson — Poetry character guide

> Benson in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

Benson is one of the named figures in Bierce's verse, a quiet presence in a world of schemers, critics, and self-appointed reformers.

## Who they are

Benson appears within the poem's crowded social landscape, alongside editors, captains, and temperance crusaders all angling for advantage. He is less a driver of events than a witness to them, part of the texture of names and voices through which Bierce stages his satire. His presence reinforces the book's sense of a busy, self-interested world observed with a cold and knowing eye.

## In the story

### [Tidings of Good](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/tidings-of-good)

Hears the news while eating dinner and dismisses it, confident his bread is already buttered and his false surveys will not matter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/characters/benson
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/characters