Sir Orfeo

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1329

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Literary Context: The Medieval Verse Romance

Tales of love and knightly adventure that often included supernatural elements, medieval verse romances were intended to entertain their listeners rather than provide moral instruction. The stories were also meant to be recited aloud rather than read privately, and they were extremely popular for several centuries. There was always a ready audience, either at the king’s court or one of the great houses of the nobles, or in a tavern or public square. This was in the days before the invention of the printing press and before people developed the habit of reading such tales silently on their own.

There are a number of different categories of medieval verse romance. Sir Orfeo is classified as a Breton lai (or lay). Bretons are people who are native to Brittany, in northwest France, and they had a tradition of such storytelling. The lais would contain mythological, chivalric, and supernatural elements, the latter including the Celtic fairy world that features so prominently in Sir Orfeo.

Other examples of the Breton lai include Sir Launfal, by Thomas Chestre, which focuses on the Arthurian knight of that name, and Lay le Freine, which is derived from a lost original by an Anglo-Norman woman known as Marie de France. Marie lived in England in the late 12th century and was the originator of the Breton lai, writing in a French dialect that was spoken in England at the time. The lais were adapted into Middle English during the 13th century. Other Middle English verse romances include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is the most famous one, King Horn, which is thought to be the earliest (written around 1225), Havelok the Dane, Athelston, Gamelyn, Beves of Hampton, and Guy of Warwick.

Historical Context: The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

The main source myth for Sir Orfeo is the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice, which the author of the poem would have known from Book X of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Orpheus was a minstrel from Thrace, in Greece. It was said that the god Apollo taught him to play the lyre. Orpheus was so divinely blessed that when he played or sang, wild animals became tame, and even stones and trees would follow him around if he so desired.

Orpheus married a nymph named Eurydice, and they had not been married long before tragedy struck. In the version of the myth that ancient Roman writer Virgil tells in Book 4 of Georgics, Eurydice was pursued by the god Aristaeus, who wanted to seduce her. In her hurry to escape, she stepped on a snake, which bit her, and she died. (In Ovid’s account, Eurydice was simply wandering in a meadow.) Grief-stricken, Orpheus decided to descend to Hades and bring his wife back. As he entered the underworld, he charmed the spirits with his music, and Hades, god of the underworld, gave him permission to take Eurydice back with him. There was only one caveat. Hades told Orpheus that he must walk in front of Eurydice, and he must not turn around and look at her until they left the underworld. Orpheus led Eurydice to the entrance of the underworld but then became fearful that she might not be following him. He turned around, and Eurydice immediately faded away, becoming again a shade in Hades. Orpheus tried to reenter Hades, but the way back was barred.

Given this summary, it is easy to see both the similarities and differences between the myth and Sir Orfeo. While both Eurydice and Heurodis vanish from the earth, Heurodis does not die but is taken to another realm of existence that in some respects resembles the human world more than it does Hades. At first, Orfeo, unlike Orpheus, does not embark on a quest to retrieve his wife; he goes into the wilderness and wants no contact with any woman. Eventually, he sees Heurodis in the otherworld only by chance, and only then does he attempt to follow her and bring her home.

When Orfeo gets through to the otherworld, he charms its inhabitants with his playing of the harp, and the fairy king (the tale’s equivalent of the god of the underworld), grants his request to return with Heurodis, but unlike in the Orpheus myth, he imposes no conditions. This sets up a happy ending, rather than the tragic ending of the Greek myth. Whereas Eurydice dies twice, Heurodis does not die at all, and she and Orfeo get home safely. Moreover, in the myth, Orpheus later meets a tragic end when he is torn to pieces by a band of women who, for various reasons given in different accounts, regard him as an enemy. In contrast, Sir Orfeo gets to spend many more happy years as king with his queen.