Sir Orfeo

The harp is a symbol of the divine power of music. When played by a master harpist, it creates heavenly melodies. Orfeo is a supremely gifted harpist, the best in the world, the speaker of the poem says. When he plays his instrument, the music activates some hidden, almost magical principle of harmony that touches both human and nonhuman worlds. Those who are listening, whether human, animal, or even fairy, feel that they have been transported to paradise.

The harp is also central to Orfeo’s identity; he is never parted from it. After Heurodis is abducted, Orfeo abandons all his possessions except his harp, which he takes with him into the wilderness; it is the one thing he cannot manage without. In the wilderness, the harp is his only source of pleasure; when he plays, even the wild animals “in joy approached him from afar” (Line 174), and the birds gather to listen as well.

The happy and successful outcome of the tale depends upon the harp. When Orfeo follows the fairies into their kingdom, his music has its usual effect, charming all who listen to it, including the fairy king and queen. It is his skill with the harp that wins back Heurodis, since the fairy king offers Orfeo anything he should desire after hearing his song. Back in Winchester, Orfeo plays the harp again at the steward’s castle; the music delights everyone and leads directly to the revelation that the mysterious harper is none other than the long-lost king. The court erupts in sounds of rejoicing.

Thus, throughout the tale, the music of the harp symbolizes harmony and good feeling; it taps into the beneficence and generosity of life. When touched by the divine melodies that the harp produces, all discord drops away; people spontaneously leave their cares aside and access their better selves, and the animal kingdom and the fairy kingdom are touched also—the music spreads a kind of universal happiness and sense of wonder.