# Picklepip — Poetry character guide

> Picklepip in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mister Picklepip, Wretched little Picklepip, Stupid little Picklepip, Witless little Picklepip

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

A wretched, witless, stupid little figure whom Bierce heaps with epithets, Picklepip is the poet's favorite punching bag for comic contempt.

## Who they are

Picklepip exists in the poems chiefly as a name to be adorned with insults, each one more dismissive than the last. He is the small, hapless target of the speaker's scorn, a stand-in for every dullard and pretender the satirist wants to flay. His role is to absorb the poem's cruelty so the reader can laugh, and to remind us that Bierce's wit has a sharp, unforgiving edge.

## In the story

### [The Town of Dae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-town-of-dae)

The poor king of Dae, living under a cask, who is courted by Lady Minnow and experiences a transformative revelation of love.

### [An Obituarian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/an-obituarian)

Implied as the death-poet, referred to as 'The Bard of Mortality' who writes obituary verses.

### [Down Among the Dead Men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/down-among-the-dead-men)

Referred to as 'Mouldyshanks' by Bashford, the poet attempting to exhume the narrator's remains.

### [The Mummery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-mummery)

Mentioned as a participant in the mummery, embodying the foolishness of the performance.

## Links

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