# The Master — Poetry character guide

> The Master in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** thy, your, The Master

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

The imperious "Master" whom Bierce's speakers address in verse, alternately flattered, defied, and blamed for promises left unkept.

## Who they are

In Bierce's satirical poems, the Master is the unnamed authority — patron, editor, or lover — whom the speaker petitions and reproaches in the same breath. The tension is contractual and emotional: a bargain struck in rhyme that the Master refuses to honor, prompting threats to summon Apollo and the Muses against her. That stubborn withholding gives the early poems their comic grievance and sets the book's tone of elegant, wounded complaint.

## In the story

### [Genesis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/genesis)

Creates Adam from clay, leaving an empty cavity.

### [Thanksgiving](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/thanksgiving)

The superintendent of the almshouse who urges gratitude and attendance at church.

### [The God's View-Point](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-god-s-view-point)

The God of Rational Content, an ancient and immortal deity who rebukes Chunder Sen for his piety.

### [The Woman and the Devil](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/the-woman-and-the-devil)

The creator who rests from work on Sunday.

### [Two Methods](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/two-methods)

Referenced as the Good Shepherd who feeds the flock.

### [God Complies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/god-complies)

Implied as God, who responds to the preachers' prayers.

### [A Hasty Inference](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-hasty-inference)

The divine authority who rebuffs Satan's request and is accused of hypocrisy for allowing corrupt figures like Stanford and Crocker to thrive.

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

The voluptuary, master of the pleasure-dome and revels, addressed as 'Sir' and 'Master of the Revels'.

## Links

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