Sir Orfeo

[GRWelsh]

I just read the Tolkien translation of SIR ORFEO, and lately I've been immersing myself in THE SILMARILLION and THE HOBBIT, and right now I have so many thoughts going through my head that I don't know where to begin.

SIR ORFEO is a Middle English poem that is a re-telling, or more accurately a 're-imagining,' of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

I'll post more on this later.

[geneweigel]

There should be more energy into pointing out everything from classical sources "nicked" for the Tolkien stories.

As far as I know, the Orfeo story has the silmarillion concept for sure (sun light gems), the Nazgul to some degree (the wife, while specifically hunting animals in her case, is with the riders who hunt people, etc.), the musical king turned wildman, and other reflections.

I think you can make a case for Aragorn's sword being an analogy of the ripped up king being remade when its revealed the story of his death was just a test of the fidelity of the steward of Winchester (READ: Gondor ).

[GRWelsh]

Yeah, Gene, you've already keyed into a few things that I was thinking about.

There is a book named the "J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment" (2006) by Michael D. C. Drout. It includes an essay titled SIR ORFEO, by Carl F Hostetter, in which he makes a few comments about similarities between this poem and the Elves of Middle-Earth and THE SILMARILLION. Here are some of Hostetter's quotes (p. 488):

- "Tom Shippey is surely correct to suggest that the 'master text' for Tolkien's portrayal of the elves is the description of the hunting king in Sir Orfeo."
- "... the glimpses of the martial prowess and majesty of the inhabitants of Faerie are remarkable: the Elves of Middle Earth are certainly more reminiscent of the fairies of Sir Orfeo than they are of those in Shakespeare or Spenser."
- "Also noteworthy are the King of Faerie's castle as set amid a smooth, level, green plain (line 353) reached only after a long passage underground through rock, which is perhaps echoed in Tolkien's depiction of the hidden Elvish city-kingdom of Gondolin, and the long tunnel that is its sole entrance passage; the detail of Faerie's luminous stones shining at night like the noonday Sun (lines 369-72), reminiscent of the Silmarils; and the poem's swift but lavish descriptions of the bright jewels, dazzling crystals, precious metals and other adornments of the lands and dwellings of Faerie (see especially lines 355-76) with which The Silmarillion in particular is replete."

[GRWelsh]

There is another book named "Middle Earth Minstrel: Essays of Music in Tolkien" (2010) edited by Bradford Lee Eden. It includes an essay by Deanna Delmar Evans titled 'Tolkien's Unfinished "Lay of Luthien" and the Middle English Sir Orfeo' (pp. 75-84) which can be read online at this link.

(Sorry, link fixed)

[geneweigel]

That link is just a preview with the essay that you cited missing.

Heh, those Hobbit movies burned my memories, Rivendell almost fit that lead up description in the Hobbit (flat plain then hidden entrance).

[GRWelsh]

At 604 lines, it's a pretty short poem. But it's loaded with detail. Here are a few other observations:

The elves/fairies are enigmatic. They appear to Orfeo's wife Heurodis in a dream to tell her that they will take her away a day later. Then they do. And it isn't clear why they take her. It does not appear that the elf/fairy king takes her as his own queen. So, why do they take her? It it just to collect beauty?

The ympe-tree, or grafted tree, seems to be the sort of 'gate' the elves/fairies use to pull her into their world.

After Heurodis is taken, Orfeo gives the kingship to a steward, and goes forth to the live in the forest as a vagabond. The only thing of comfort he takes with him is his harp. Orfeo doesn't go into the forest because he is trying to find Heurodis, but out of despair at losing her.