Poetry Blog No 163 Orpheus

 

"Orpheus Leading Eurydice from the Underworld" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

ORPHEUS

 Orpheus surrounded by animals. Ancient Roman floor mosaic, from Palermo

The legend of Orpheus is particularly attractive to those in the arts as all would wish their art had the sort of magical power attributed to his music.

Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centred on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music, his attempt to retrieve his wife, Eurydice, from the underworld, and his death at the hands of those who could not hear his divine music. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting. From Wikipedia

The mysticism attributed to Orpheus was also a powerful influence on Greek life and through that ultimately on European culture.

The Orphics were an ascetic sect; wine, to them, was only a symbol, as, later, in the Christian sacrament. The intoxication that they sought was that of "enthusiasm," of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus. From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious. Bertrand Russell 

 

Orpheus (left, with lyre) among the Thracians, from an Attic red-figure bell-krater

ORPHEUS

There was a singer once they say;

None ever sung as he could sing,

And none could ever, ever play

As he upon each singing string.

The world would hush when hearing him,

All listen in their stillness, even

The winged inhabitants of heaven

Would follow him; wild beasts of prey

Would lie before his feet in peace.

Great, leaf-proud trees would gently sway;

And all would wish him not to cease.

His lyre had but seven strings,

Like seven planets wandering

The deep and starry-sounding sky.

And it was said of him as well

Even the three-faced hound of hell

Was lulled by his soft lullaby.

And in the song that he would sing

Lived deeper truth of everything,

As he would sing of deeper showing

From life to life to grow to light...

And all that's seen by sightless sight,

And all that's heard in silent knowing.

And he would play and he would roam,

And when he sang soft winds would moan,

And all things dreamt of their lost home.

Will ever any sing such song?

For he has gone now- he has gone. 

Orpheus with the lyre and surrounded by beasts (Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens)

 Orpheus with the lyre and surrounded by beasts (Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens)