Which character writes 'The Grand Inquisitor' poem in 'The Brothers Karamazov'?

Ivan Karamazov writes “The Grand Inquisitor” poem in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov.” Ivan presents it to his brother Alyosha during a conversation about faith, human freedom, suffering, and the possibility of a benevolent God.

The work is a story within a story: Ivan imagines Jesus returning to Seville during the Spanish Inquisition, where an elderly Grand Inquisitor condemns him and argues that people prefer security, bread, and authority to the burden of free choice. Although the Inquisitor delivers the main monologue, the poem is Ivan’s composition.

A frequent mistake is assigning the poem to Alyosha because he is Ivan’s listener, or to the Inquisitor because he speaks most of its words. Father Zosima is a spiritual elder elsewhere in the novel, while Dmitri is Ivan’s brother and the family’s passionate, troubled eldest son.