Orpheus the Poet

Eurydice dies; Orpheus seeks consolation in his art. ‘But he, solacing love's anguish with his hollow shell, sang of thee, sweet wife — of thee, to himself on the lonely shore,’ Virgil tells us. ¹ The poet sings for himself, narrating about her on the solitary bank, but his song is heard by others — listeners who grow in number and let themselves be seduced by the poetic verse: men and beasts, infernal gods and dead souls. In this way, the memory of Eurydice is circulated and the song can be repeated, from generation to generation, becoming immortal — even beyond the lifetime allowed to Orpheus.