The first-person speaker of the poem is a new father living in Thoor Ballylee. He spends an hour walking and praying for his daughter's future while a storm rages outside. He harbors deep anxieties about the current political climate and the Irish War of Independence. He wishes to impart wisdom to his child about the values of moderate beauty, courtesy, and maintaining a soul free of hatred.

The infant daughter of the speaker serves as the focal point of her father's hopes and anxieties. She rests inside the tower while the wind batters the stone outside. Symbolically, she represents the newly forming independent nation of Ireland. Her father prays for her to develop courtesy and an innocent soul.

The speaker's wife and the mother of Anne. She possesses a quiet demeanor that the speaker contrasts with the radical nature of his past loves. Her moderate beauty and courteous manners serve as an ideal standard for domestic happiness and political stability in the speaker's mind.

A former love of the speaker whose radical political opinions and physical beauty brought him profound distress. She serves as a cautionary figure in his reflections. Her presence in his memories demonstrates how physical perfection combined with intellectual hatred can ruin a person's peace.

A figure from Greek mythology whose bountiful beauty initiated the Trojan War. The speaker references her to illustrate why he hopes his daughter is not cursed with overwhelming physical attractiveness. Her story proves that excessive beauty attracts foolish suitors and causes widespread destruction.

A Greek mythological figure who serves as an example of a man blinded by physical beauty. His judgment and subsequent choice of Aphrodite initiated a destructive war. He represents the chaotic consequences of valuing superficial traits over lasting kindness.

The mythological goddess of love and beauty. She represents another example of bountiful beauty making irrational choices. The speaker notes her selection of an unlikely husband despite her own divine perfection.

A Greek mythological blacksmith who serves as the physically imperfect husband to the goddess of beauty. He proves the speaker's point that excessive beauty often leads to unfortunate or unbalanced domestic arrangements.

A mythological naiad who transforms into a laurel tree to escape unwanted advances. The speaker invokes her story as a symbol of victory and rootedness. He hopes his daughter finds a similarly secure and permanent home.

A Greek mythological figure whose unwanted advances force Daphne to transform into a tree. In the context of the poem, he symbolically represents the aggressive forces trying to capture an independent Ireland.