Thank you! It's extraordinary how popular the Orpheus story remains. There's a musical running in London at the moment called 'Hadestown' which is based on the story.
Yes, Noirin, it is a powerful and very resonant story. There are biblical parallels - as you say Lot's wife, and of course the serpent bite that kills Eurydice. There are interpretations of the middle English Sir Orfeo that suggest he is a stand-in for Christ. Keats mentions Ruth in his 'Ode to a Nightingale' 'Perhaps the self same song that found a path/ Through the sad heart of Ruth when, sick for home/ She stood in tears amid alien corn' and Patrick Kavanagh mentions Lot's wife in 'Shancoduff': 'Lot's wife would not be salt if she had been/ Incurious as my black hills'. Maybe they were the ones you had in mind. I learnt them both at school.
Such a powerful myth, not surprising its had so many echoes in time. I was also reminded of the story of Lot's wife, looking back towards home as she flees.
(I thought it was Ruth, not Lot's wife, thought I remembered lines in The Waste Land about Ruth looking back towards her children but can't find it now, must be mixed up.)
Thank you! It's extraordinary how popular the Orpheus story remains. There's a musical running in London at the moment called 'Hadestown' which is based on the story.
Thank you so much for all the research you have undertaken to provide us with such a fascinating insight into this timeless tale!
Glad you enjoyed it Laurence. I had fun researching it!
Yes, Noirin, it is a powerful and very resonant story. There are biblical parallels - as you say Lot's wife, and of course the serpent bite that kills Eurydice. There are interpretations of the middle English Sir Orfeo that suggest he is a stand-in for Christ. Keats mentions Ruth in his 'Ode to a Nightingale' 'Perhaps the self same song that found a path/ Through the sad heart of Ruth when, sick for home/ She stood in tears amid alien corn' and Patrick Kavanagh mentions Lot's wife in 'Shancoduff': 'Lot's wife would not be salt if she had been/ Incurious as my black hills'. Maybe they were the ones you had in mind. I learnt them both at school.
Yes Aisling, it was the Keats lverse I had thought was from the Waste Land. Thanks for giving me the source - they are beautiful lines.
Such a powerful myth, not surprising its had so many echoes in time. I was also reminded of the story of Lot's wife, looking back towards home as she flees.
(I thought it was Ruth, not Lot's wife, thought I remembered lines in The Waste Land about Ruth looking back towards her children but can't find it now, must be mixed up.)
An excellent and eye opening summary and retelling. Thank you!