RE: Aspects on Rilke's poem Orpheus Eurydice Hermes

Baader, Cecilia (cbaader@casecorp.com)
Mon, 06 Dec 1999 23:56:27 -0600 

> -----Original Message-----
> On Monday, December 06, 1999 8:18 AM The Laughing Man
[the_laughing_man@hotmail.com]wrote:
> Maybe Orpheus' poetry improved from him oscillating around his own =
misery.

> In a way. But I'm primarily concerned about Orpheus and Eurydice as
(symbols=20
> of) humans.  And I do think Orpheus' poetry might have been even more =

> beautiful if followed by a development inside himself, eventually.
>=20
> The beginning of Requiem for a Friend does illustrate your point =
about=20
> Eurydice, even if I still wonder what that fullness is supposed to =
be.
Death=20
> is in this respect mainly interesting (to me) as the compliment state =
of=20
> living. Death in itself is uninteresting. So what fullness is =
Eurydice's?=20
> I'll go back to my German Rilke, decipher the rest of "F=FCr eine =
Freundin"
to=20
> the best of my ability, and see if I get any clue from there to =
Rilke's=20
> opinion.
>=20
I've got a compilation that has the English on a page facing the =
German,
practically screaming at me to work on mine as well.  I'm pretty good =
at
ignoring loud things, though.  Alarm clocks, for instance.

> >"Tellingly, Eurydice's return to the underworld is no sad accident
> >here; it is an active, ruthless condemnation performed in the guise =
of an
> >anxious backward glance" (3).
>=20
> Go Melissa! Hit 'im!
> I wouldn't go with the "active" opinion, even though I definitely =
like it=20
> esthetically.
>=20
I do too.  It makes the myth more interesting, although it ruins the =
shiny
happy image of Orpheus I've carried around with me for the last fifteen
years. =20

> Focusing on Orpheus is all and well, but what I like the most in =
Rilke's=20
> poem is that perspective shift towards Eurydice. We know very little =
of=20
> Eurydice: she is passive in the myths. Here she comes alive before =
us.
Dead=20
> as she is, she comes alive. Just don't tell me it is because she is =
dead,=20
> she comes alive. Please. Rilke or no Rilke.
>=20
No, I don't think that's what he's saying.  I think that the best case
scenario is to achieve that fullness of self when alive, but if unable =
to do
so then, Rilke is saying that you're freed from all of those bothersome
earthly relationships when you die and you become free to concentrate =
on
achieving that total self.  It's not too different, really, from a lot =
of
religious philosophy.  Or even the self that say, a deaf-mute would be =
able
to achieve.  (ObSal, in case you missed it.)

> ...I wonder if there is any analysis made of O&E from a feministic =
point
of=20
> view? It is definitely made for it: all the historical focus on =
Orpheus
and=20
> his pain, the vision of Love crossing all boundaries; and none on the
object=20
> for it. It is quite easy to read Rilke's poem as a feministic =
questioning
on=20
> that.
The book that I quoted earlier, Melissa Zeiger's _Beyond Consolation: =
Death,
Sexuality, and the Changing Shapes of Elegy_, is most certainly a =
feminist
reading of Orpheus.  In the book, Zeiger discusses how much European =
Elegy
is based on the Orpheus myth and blows preconceptions right out of the
water.  Pow!  Crack-o Jack-o!  Down goes the teenaged hoodlum.  I'll =
track
down the bibliographical information for you later, if you like.

Regards,
Cecilia.=20