Speaker
The speaker is an unidentified figure describing the aftermath of a lynching.
Victim
The victim is an unidentified man—implied to be black and an innocent victim—who is killed during the night by a lynch mob and whose body remains the following morning.
father
The Christian God who is said to have "bidden" the victim to "his bosom" as his spirit ascends to heaven.
Women
The women are spectators with "eyes of steely blue" who crowd in to see the body and show no sympathy or remorse.
Lads
The children dance around the dead body, and the poem implies that they will be "lynchers" themselves someday.
