# Salvini — Poetry character guide

> Salvini in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** great Salvini

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

The great Salvini, a celebrated tragedian whose thunderous performances become the measure of art's power and its absurdity.

## Who they are

Salvini stands as the book's emblem of the actor's colossal, almost inhuman presence, a figure whose grief and grandeur shake continents and wake the recording angel from sleep. Against him Bierce sets the petty critic and the provincial censor, so that the tragedian's roar becomes both a genuine force and a target for mockery. He matters because he defines the scale against which the book measures all other performances, artistic and political alike.

## In the story

### [Salvini in America](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/salvini-in-america)

The great Italian actor whose expressive performance is the focus of the chapter.

### [A Rear Elevation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-rear-elevation)

Praised for his godlike ability to express volumes through his back and shoulder-blades in a performance of 'Conrad'.

## Links

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