# The Ghost of Deacon Brown explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James Weldon Johnson.

## What happens

Deacon Brown, a miserly old man, hides a box of gold in the ground but forgets its location and dies trying to find it. After his death, his ghost haunts the town, digging for the gold every dark night, causing the townspeople to flee and the town to become deserted.

## Themes in this chapter

### Death and Mortality

Deacon Brown dies from his obsessive search for his hidden gold, and his ghost continues to haunt the living.

### Temptation and Fall

The miser's greed leads him to hide his gold, forget its location, and ultimately die, with his ghost perpetuating the town's downfall.

## Character check-ins

### Deacon Brown

A miser who hides his gold and forgets where he buried it, dying in the attempt. His ghost returns to haunt the town.

## Key lines

> He hid his gold, As has been told, He remembered that he did it; But sad to say, On the very next day, He forgot just where he hid it

He buried his gold and initially recalled the spot, but the next day he could not remember where he had hidden it.

_The central irony of the story: the miser's careful hiding leads to his own loss._

> Then on each dark and gloomy night A form in phosphorescent white, A genuine hair-raising sight, Would wander through the town.

Every dark night, a glowing white figure, truly terrifying to behold, roamed the town.

_Description of the ghostly apparition that haunts the town._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/the-ghost-of-deacon-brown
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters