# Waterman — Poetry character guide

> Waterman in Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-poetry

## Snapshot

A named presence in Bierce's verse whose role is bound up with the poet's recurring meditation on critics, cadets, and the vanity of human endeavor.

## Who they are

Waterman surfaces in the same poetic terrain as the one-eyed cadet and the poet who demands his portrait from a reluctant 'Mat,' a world where contracts are broken, critics are mocked, and ambition is its own punishment. His name carries the watery, drifting quality of Bierce's minor figures — men whose significance lies less in what they do than in what they represent about the poet's dim view of his contemporaries. He matters as part of the chorus of the disappointed and the self-important that gives the collection its distinctive, sardonic texture.

## In the story

### [A Commuted Sentence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-commuted-sentence)

Also in Hades, disputing with Boruck and later asking Satan about their commutation.

### [On the Scales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/on-the-scales)

Referenced in the opening proverb and as the source of the lost weight, symbolizing the trivial nature of the loss.

### [A Soaring Toad](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-soaring-toad)

Addressed directly; criticized for his ambition and disillusionment with serving again.

### [A Patter Song](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-patter-song)

Mentioned as not being the governor's name, implying a contrast.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_se/chapters/xxxi)

His bright career ends; his wet name is left to history.

## Links

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