# Greer Harrison — Poetry character guide

> Greer Harrison in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Harrison, Greer

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

A supporting figure in Bierce's satirical verse, caught in the swirl of political schemers, temperance cranks, and self-promoting hacks who populate the poet's America.

## Who they are

Harrison moves through Bierce's satirical landscape alongside opportunists like McDonald, who peddles his own Sunday-school book as a front for a Pacific Bank account, and St. John, who trades souls with a former president to lead the 'vinophobe ranks.' The world he inhabits is one where reform is a racket, virtue is a business model, and everyone is angling for the next office or endorsement. He matters as a witness to Bierce's central comic target: the gap between public piety and private appetite.

## In the story

### [A Playwright](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-playwright)

A soul ascending to Heaven, he defends his playwriting and is struck down by Saint Peter.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/xxvii)

The subject of the epitaph, a poet of little skill who loved to loll on Parnassus but is now dead and buried.

## Links

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