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Sir Orfeo: - Middle English poem. - c. 13th century.

Sir Orfeo, a romance composed by an unknown Celtic author, was loosely adapted from the
classic Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The earliest Middle English version is found
among other tales in the Auchinleck manuscript, which dates from about 1330-1340 and may
have been owned by Geoffrey Chaucer. On the basis of linguistic studies, Sir Orfeo appears to
have been written sometime during the second half of the 13th century. The tale, its chief version
consisting of 602 short lines of rhyming couplets, tells the tale of King Orfeo, a harp player
without equal. His wife, Heurodis, is abducted by the fairy King but Orfeo, through his harp
playing, manages to bring her back to the land of mortals. Among the many notable differences
between the Celtic and the Greek renditions are the setting and the ending: in Sir Orfeo the main
resolution occurs in Fairyland instead of Hades, and the ending is a happy one. Sir Orfeo is
regarded by critics as one of the finest examples of the Breton lay.

At the beginning of May, King Orfeo's wife falls into a deep sleep under an imp, or grafted, tree
and dreams she is abducted by the King of the fairies, shown his fantastic kingdom, and told that,
come tomorrow, she will be kept there forever. She awakes distraught, tears her robes to shreds
and claws at her face, making it bleed profusely. To thwart the realization of the dream, Orfeo
has hundreds of knights guard Heurodis, but they prove ineffective as the fairy King uses
enchantment to take her away effortlessly. Orfeo is beyond consoling and abandons his kingdom
to the charge of his steward. Having lost the fairest lady who ever lived, Orfeo swears he will
never look upon another woman and takes to the woods barefoot, totally without material
possessions except for his cloak and his harp. Living off nuts, roots, and bark for more than ten
years, Orfeo wanders aimlessly. His only respite from grief comes from playing his harp, which
soothes him and enchants both bird and beast. One day, he chances upon his wife among a group
of ladies from the fairy kingdom. Although Orfeo's appearance shows the effect of a decade in
the wilderness, and his hair is rough and hangs to his waist, Heurodis recognizes him instantly.
Overcome with emotion, neither can speak to the other. Orfeo follows her through a rock and
below ground to the fairy kingdom. He gains permission from the porter to enter the castle made
of gold and dazzling jewels, by virtue of being a minstrel. Inside the castle Orfeo plays his harp
for the fairy King, who is so impressed that he offers Orfeo whatever he cares to request. Orfeo
demands Heurodis and, although the fairy King hesitates to give her to him because the couple
seem so mismatched, he honors his word and relinquishes her. Orfeo returns to his kingdom but
does not reveal his identity until he tests his steward's loyalty. The steward passes the test, Orfeo
makes his true identity known, and Orfeo and Heurodis are newly crowned. They live and rule in
peace until their deaths, upon which, the steward becomes king.

Ultimately, Sir Orfeo is a tale of loyalty and devotion. Set in a scene rich with Celtic folklore, the
poem involves magic and enchantment, a King who loses everything only to regain it after years
of suffering, fidelity to spouse and to lord, love, and music. The music of the harp was
considered sacred by the Celts and represents harmony; its power is such that it can restore order,
even overcoming the fairy King. Notable is the fact that Orfeo does not have to search for his
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wife, as is the case in similar tales; scholar K. R. R. Gros Louis interprets Orfeo's suffering as
representing Christian penance and the return of Heurodis through the grace of God.

Sir Orfeo is unanimously and highly praised by critics. Laura A. Hibbard calls its grace and
beauty exceptional and states, “Brief, yet vivid, the little tale is inimitably fresh in style and
content.” Dorena Allen calls its author a genius at adaptation. Other critics echo these statements.
Much effort has been made to trace the roots of Sir Orfeo; most scholars presume that the Middle
English version comes from an adaptation of a now-lost Old French version. Several texts have
been demonstrated to contain similarities but no proposal of a single source for all the non-
Classical elements has been satisfactory; Allen argues that such a search must be fruitless
because it is a hunt for something that probably never existed. Critics have pointed out that Sir
Orfeo's Greek, Christian, Celtic, and French elements are divergences from the typical poetry of
its time. To cite one example, this tale is the only one known in which the action of mortals in
Fairyland takes place in the land of the living and not of the dead. Some scholars are fascinated
by the nature of Heurodis's state, which has similarities with mythical death but is distinctly
different. Critics continue to disagree about interpretations of Sir Orfeo, many asserting that the
poem contains multiple levels of allegory. In addition, scholars have devoted themselves to the
study of manuscript variations, errors, and omissions. A. J. Bliss has gone so far as to reconstruct
the missing beginning of the Auchinleck manuscript in a faithful style. The timeless themes
of Sir Orfeo and its ability to accomodate new interpretations continue to attract readers and
scholars alike.
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Sir Orfeo as a poem borrows from the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as from
the homecoming of Odysseus. In the later case, the poem employs Odysseus' disguise as a
beggar and his testing of those who remain to uncover their loyalty. Sir Orfeomerges these myths
with Northern European accounts of the realm of faërie. In this sense, it embodies part of
Tolkien's point in "On Fairy Stories" about the nature of the soup in fairy tales, though in this
case some of the bones can be tracked down fairly easily.

In preparation for the questions below, read over the following summary of the Orpheus
myth: from Thomas Bulfinch's Age of Fable: Vols. I & II: Stories of Gods and
Heroes. 1913.Chapter 24 Orpheus and Eurydice

ORPHEUS was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. He was presented by his father with a
Lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could withstand the
charm of his music. Not only his fellow-mortals but wild beasts were softened by his strains, and
gathering round him laid by their fierceness, and stood entranced with his lay. Nay, the very trees
and rocks were sensible to the charm. The former crowded round him and the latter relaxed
somewhat of their hardness, softened by his notes.

Hymen had been called to bless with his presence the nuptials of Orpheus with Eurydice; but
though he attended, he brought no happy omens with him. His very torch smoked and brought
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tears into their eyes. In coincidence with such prognostics, Eurydice, shortly after her marriage,
while wandering with the nymphs, her companions, was seen by the shepherd Aristæus, who was
struck with her beauty and made advances to her. She fled, and in flying trod upon a snake in the
grass, was bitten in the foot, and died. Orpheus sang his grief to all who breathed the upper air,
both gods and men, and finding it all unavailing resolved to seek his wife in the regions of the
dead. He descended by a cave situated on the side of the promontory of Tænarus and arrived at
the Stygian realm. He passed through crowds of ghosts and presented himself before the throne
of Pluto and Proserpine. Accompanying the words with the lyre, he sung, “O deities of the
underworld, to whom all we who live must come, hear my words, for they are true. I come not to
spy out the secrets of Tartarus, nor to try my strength against the three-headed dog with snaky
hair who guards the entrance. I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous
viper’s fang has brought to an untimely end. Love has led me here, Love, a god all powerful with
us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so here. I implore you by these
abodes full of terror, these realms of silence and uncreated things, unite again the thread of
Eurydice’s life. We all are destined to you, and sooner or later must pass to your domain. She
too, when she shall have filled her term of life, will rightly be yours. But till then grant her to me,
I beseech you. If you deny me I cannot return alone; you shall triumph in the death of us both.”

As he sang these tender strains, the very ghosts shed tears. Tantalus, in spite of his thirst,
stopped for a moment his efforts for water, Ixion’s wheel stood still, the vulture ceased to tear
the giant’s liver, the daughters of Danaüs rested from their task of drawing water in a sieve, and
Sisyphus sat on his rock to listen. Then for the first time, it is said, the cheeks of the Furies were
wet with tears. Proserpine could not resist, and Pluto himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She
came from among the new-arrived ghosts, limping with her wounded foot. Orpheus was
permitted to take her away with him on one condition, that he should not turn around to look at
her till they should have reached the upper air. Under this condition they proceeded on their way,
he leading, she following, through passages dark and steep, in total silence, till they had nearly
reached the outlet into the cheerful upper world, when Orpheus, in a moment of forgetfulness, to
assure himself that she was still following, cast a glance behind him, when instantly she was
borne away. Stretching out their arms to embrace each other, they grasped only the air! Dying
now a second time, she yet cannot reproach her husband, for how can she blame his impatience
to behold her? “Farewell,” she said, “a last farewell,”—and was hurried away, so fast that the
sound hardly reached his ears.

Orpheus endeavored to follow her, and besought permission to return and try once more for her
release; but the stern ferryman repulsed him and refused passage. Seven days he lingered about
the brink, without food or sleep; then bitterly accusing of cruelty the powers of Erebus, he sang
his complaints to the rocks and mountains, melting the hearts of tigers and moving the oaks from
their stations. He held himself aloof from womankind, dwelling constantly on the recollection of
his sad mischance. The Thracian maidens tried their best to captivate him, but he repulsed their
advances. They bore with him as long as they could; but finding him insensible one day, excited
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by the rites of Bacchus, one of them exclaimed, “See yonder our despiser!” and threw at him her
javelin. The weapon, as soon as it came within the sound of his lyre, fell harmless at his feet. So
did also the stones that they threw at him. But the women raised a scream and drowned the voice
of the music, and then the missiles reached him and soon were stained with his blood. The
maniacs tore him limb from limb, and threw his head and his lyre into the river Hebrus, down
which they floated, murmuring sad music, to which the shores responded a plaintive symphony.
The Muses gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Libethra, where the
nightingale is said to sing over his grave more sweetly than in any other part of Greece. His lyre
was placed by Jupiter among the stars. His shade passed a second time to Tartarus, where he
sought out his Eurydice and embraced her with eager arms. They roam the happy fields together
now, sometimes he leading, sometimes she; and Orpheus gazes as much as he will upon her, no
longer incurring a penalty for a thoughtless glance.

Discussion Questions

How does Sir Orfeo transform the Orpheus myth?

What is the effect of Sir Orfeo borrowing from the homecoming of Odysseus?

Describe the presence and impact of the realm of faërie.

How does the poem employ description as part of its effect?

How is Tolkien's element of fantasy present in the poem?

How are the elements of recovery, escape, and consolation present in the poem?

Could Sir Orfeo be described as possessing eucatastrophe? Why or why not?

"All manner of thing shall be well/ When the tongues of flame are in-folded/ Into the crowned
knot of fire/ And the fire and the rose are one." -- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

How does Sir Orfeo compare to the classical Orpheus myth? What makes this poem uniquely
medieval? How does the genre change to a medieval romance, especially given the different kind
of ending?

How does the fairy world relate to the “real” world? How is this different from the classical
source?

Who is this fairy king and what is the nature of his kingdom? Consider the odd scene we see
when Orfeo enters his court? What’s going on there?

Objects function as important symbols. What kind of symbolic things populate Sir Orfeo? For
instance, the queen, Heurodis, goes into the garden (which is a man-made construction) and falls
asleep under an ympe tree (this is a grafted tree which is also a man-made creation). In other
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words, she is venturing into an area that is altering the natural order of God’s world (according to
a medieval Christian). What is the significance of this? The garden and ympe tree function as
important symbols, as do other physical things.

How are the body and the state connected through Orfeo? Think of the metaphor of the body
politic.

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