Corydon is the poetic persona of the speaker, representing Matthew Arnold himself as a classical shepherd. He is a middle-aged man who has moved to the noisy city and now returns to his youthful haunts. Struggling with aging and the deep grief of losing his friend, he seeks solace in the English countryside. He is determined to find a specific elm tree on a hill that symbolizes his enduring youthful ideals.

Thyrsis is the pastoral representation of the poet's deceased friend, Arthur Hugh Clough. He is remembered as a fellow shepherd and poet who once shared a pure and happy life in the country. Unlike Corydon, Thyrsis voluntarily left this peaceful existence early on to engage in the controversial intellectual and political storms of the wider world. He ultimately passes away in a southern country, leaving a profound void in Corydon's life.

The Scholar Gipsy is a legendary 17th-century Oxford student who abandoned formal academic studies to join a band of Romani travelers. He seeks an esoteric truth through solitary wandering and the power of imagination. To Corydon and Thyrsis, he is an immortal figure who never succumbed to the fatigue of modern life, continually roaming the countryside in pursuit of a fugitive light.