# On the Art of Writing — Character guide

> Key figures in On the Art of Writing by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

- [Unknown](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/unknown_narrator.md): The narrator or focal character, heavily present throughout the book.
- [Shakespeare](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/shakespeare.md): Central literary figure discussed extensively as a model of writing.
- [Homer](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/homer.md): Ancient Greek poet referenced as a foundational influence on literature.
- [Milton](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/milton.md): English poet cited for his verse and prose style.
- [Samuel Johnson](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/johnson.md): Lexicographer and critic frequently quoted on writing principles.
- [Chaucer](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/chaucer.md): Medieval English poet discussed as a master of narrative verse.
- [Professor Saintsbury](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/professor_saintsbury.md): Contemporary literary critic referenced in the lectures.
- [Wordsworth](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/wordsworth.md): Romantic poet examined for his theories on poetic diction.
- [Plato](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/plato.md): Greek philosopher invoked in discussions of rhetoric and style.
- [Virgil](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/virgil.md): Roman poet used as an example of epic verse craftsmanship.
- [Ben Jonson](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/ben_jonson.md): Elizabethan playwright and poet cited for his critical views.
- [Marlowe](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/marlowe.md): Elizabethan dramatist referenced for his blank verse.
- [Cardinal Newman](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/cardinal_newman.md): Victorian prose stylist discussed for his clarity and rhythm.
- [Gray](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/gray.md): Poet mentioned in relation to poetic diction and elegy.
- [Browning](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/browning.md): Victorian poet cited for dramatic monologue and style.
- [Matthew Arnold](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/matthew_arnold.md): Critic and poet referenced on the function of criticism.
- [Byron](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/byron.md): Romantic poet discussed for his satirical verse and style.
- [Keats](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/keats.md): Romantic poet admired for his sensuous imagery and early death.
- [Aristotle](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/aristotle.md): Greek philosopher whose Poetics informs discussions of drama.
- [Coleridge](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/coleridge.md): Romantic poet and critic quoted on imagination and language.
- [Dryden](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/dryden.md): Restoration poet and critic cited for his prose style.
- [Dante](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/dante.md): Italian poet referenced as a master of vernacular epic.
- [Edmund Spenser](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/spenser.md): Elizabethan poet discussed for his allegorical epic The Faerie Queene.
- [Goethe](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/goethe.md): German writer cited for his views on world literature.
- [Alexander Pope](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/alexander_pope.md): Augustan poet referenced for his heroic couplets and satire.
- [Tennyson](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/tennyson.md): Victorian poet laureate mentioned for his lyrical verse.
- [Sappho](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sappho.md): Ancient Greek lyric poet cited for her emotional intensity.
- [Bede](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/bede.md): Anglo-Saxon historian referenced in literary lineage.
- [Malory](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/malory.md): Author of Le Morte d'Arthur discussed as a prose stylist.
- [Sir Thomas Wyatt](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sir_thomas_wyat.md): Tudor poet and courtier, early sonneteer in English.
- [Sir Joshua Reynolds](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sir_joshua_reynolds.md): Painter and writer on art, quoted on general principles.
- [Professor Freeman](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/freeman.md): Historian referenced in discussions of historical style.
- [Carlyle](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/carlyle.md): Victorian essayist and historian cited for his prose energy.
- [Rossetti](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/rossetti.md): Pre-Raphaelite poet and painter mentioned for style.
- [Petrarch](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/petrarch.md): Italian poet whose sonnets influenced English Renaissance.
- [Izaak Walton](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/isaak_walton.md): Angler and biographer, praised for his simple prose.
- [Sir Thomas Browne](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sir_thomas_browne.md): 17th-century physician and writer on style and meditation.
- [Bacon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/bacon.md): Elizabethan philosopher and essayist cited for aphoristic style.
- [Cicero](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/cicero.md): Roman orator referenced as a model of prose rhythm.
- [Quintilian](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/quintilian.md): Roman rhetorician cited on education and style.
- [Lucian](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/lucian.md): Greek satirist mentioned for his dialogue form.
- [Herodotus](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/heriodotus.md): Greek historian referenced as a narrative stylist.
- [Aristophanes](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/aristophanes.md): Greek comic playwright cited for his verbal wit.
- [Pliny](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/pliny.md): Roman author referenced for his epistolary style.
- [Tertullian](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/tertullian.md): Early Christian writer noted for his rhetorical force.
- [Lessing](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/lessing.md): German critic and dramatist discussed in comparative context.
- [Flaubert](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/flaubert.md): French novelist cited for his pursuit of le mot juste.
- [Carducci](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/carducci.md): Italian poet and critic referenced in literary lineage.
- [Gabriel Harvey](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/gabriel_harvey.md): Elizabethan scholar and friend of Spenser, mentioned in context.
- [John Jenkins](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/john_jenkins.md): Minor figure referenced in a literary anecdote.
- [Mr. Lloyd George](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/mr_lloyd_george.md): Contemporary politician mentioned in a stylistic example.
- [Dr. Courthope](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/dr_courthope.md): Literary historian cited in lectures on English literature.
- [Arthur John Butler](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/arthur_john_butler.md): Scholar and translator referenced in academic context.
- [Sir Philip Sidney](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sir_philip_sidney.md): Elizabethan poet and critic, author of An Apology for Poetry.
- [Benvenuto Cellini](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/benvenuto_cellini.md): Italian Renaissance artist and autobiographer mentioned for style.
- [Beowulf](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/beowulf.md): Old English epic poem discussed as a foundational text.
- [Alcuin](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/alcuin.md): Anglo-Saxon scholar and advisor to Charlemagne, mentioned in lineage.
- [Barbour](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/barbour.md): Scottish poet, author of The Bruce, cited in literary history.
- [Ascham](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/aschem.md): Tudor scholar and author of The Schoolmaster, referenced for style.
- [Daniel](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/daniel.md): Elizabethan poet and historian mentioned in literary context.
- [Abelard](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/abelard.md): Medieval philosopher and theologian cited in passing.
- [Giraud de Borneil](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/giraud_de_borneil.md): Occitan troubadour mentioned in discussion of lyric poetry.
- [Sainte-Beuve](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/sainte_beuve.md): French literary critic referenced for his critical method.
- [Pope Gregory the Great](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/pope_gregory_the_great.md): Pope and Doctor of the Church, mentioned in historical context.
- [William Tyndale](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/tyndale.md): Biblical translator and Protestant reformer, cited for prose.
- [Wolfe](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/wolfe.md): General James Wolfe, mentioned in a historical allusion.
- [Lord Brougham](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/brougham.md): British statesman and orator, referenced for rhetorical style.
- [Mr. Frederick Lamond](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/mr_lamond.md): Pianist mentioned in an analogy about performance and style.
- [Captain Oates](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/captain_oates.md): Antarctic explorer cited as an example of understatement.
- [Duchess](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/duchess.md): Title character in a literary example or anecdote.
- [the stranger](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/the_stranger.md): Generic figure used in illustrative examples of narrative.
- [Adonis](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/adonis.md): Mythological figure referenced in poetic allusions.
- [Apollo](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/apollo.md): Greek god of poetry, invoked in classical references.
- [Zeus](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/zeus.md): King of the gods in Greek mythology, mentioned in passing.
- [Venus](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/venus.md): Goddess of love, referenced in poetic contexts.
- [Athene](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/athene.md): Greek goddess of wisdom, mentioned in classical allusion.
- [Minos](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/minos.md): Mythological king of Crete, referenced in literary example.
- [Demonax](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/demonax.md): Greek philosopher cited in a rhetorical illustration.
- [Belisarius](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/belisarius.md): Byzantine general mentioned in a historical analogy.
- [Parmenides](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters/parmenides.md): Pre-Socratic philosopher referenced in philosophical context.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/on_the_art_of_writing_se/characters