Comparing The Myth of Orpheus and A Tree Telling of Orpheus

The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice
by Ovid
Read the story of Orpheus and Eurydice below. Answer the questions in the right hand column.
The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

In the sunny vales of Thessaly lived Orpheus, the sweet singer. Apollo, his father, had given him a lyre; an
while animals, birds, and even serpents drew near, charmed by the soft music of Orpheus' golden lyre. On
and seating herself, listened. She was the dawn maiden, Eurydice, a maiden more fair and sweet could no
Day after day, Eurydice came and listened while Orpheus played, unt
with no one to bring forth its 'music." But one day, Apollo sent Orpheu
be happy as before, so she wandered off by herself and she chanced
and dropping down by the bank of the stream where she had first see
tones of sorrow, the birds and squirrels told their sympathy; and the n
At last Orpheus thought he would try to find Eurydice. He had first to p
Orpheus sat down upon a rock, and played upon his lyre. There came a change in the ugly monster. One
Orpheus passed in safety.
When he came to the river Styx, Charon the Ferryman glared coldly at him. demanding how a mortal dare
while he played such sad, touching strains that Charon begged him to cease. Tears were falling from the
Orpheus went on and on through the dark, glittering caverns, heeding not the wealth which was stored in
attention to the dark frown of Hades, and began to sing, " King of the Under-world, I am not come to find o
day. Grant that she come again to the home of Orpheus. Thou hast thy Proserpine. Give me, I pray thee,
So Orpheus sang and played, until Proserpine's tears were falling fast, and Hades' stern face softened int
back. He passed the river, and the dog Cerberus, and came to the rocky cave in the mountain's side, thro
a moment of forgetfulness, looked back to see that Eurydice was really returning with him.
He saw her gentle face and outstretched arms; but as he looked, she was borne back to Hades' kingdom,
beasts came and mourned with him. He refused to be comforted. The woods and hills no longer re-echoe
Eurydice. Can we not make him happy once more?" But they tried in vain.
A Tree Telling of Orpheus
By Denise Levertov
White dawn. Stillness. When the rippling began

I took it for sea-wind, coming to our valley with rumors
of salt, of treeless horizons. But the white fog
didn't stir; the leaves of my brothers remained outstretched,
unmoving.
Yet the rippling drew nearer – and then

my own outermost branches began to tingle, almost as if
fire had been lit below them, too close, and their twig-tips
were drying and curling.
Yet I was not afraid, only
deeply alert.
T Title
I was the first to see him, for I grew
out on the pasture slope, beyond the forest.
O Own Words
He was a man, it seemed: the two
moving stems, the short trunk, the two
arm-branches, flexible, each with five leafless A Analyze poetic
devices
twigs at their ends, (what
metaphors,
and the head that's crowned by brown or golden grass, similes or
personification
bearing a face not like the beaked face of a bird,
stand out to
more like a flower's. you and why?)
He carried a burden made of S Shift (there
some cut branch bent while it was green, may be more
than one)
strands of a vine tight-stretched across it. From this, T Tone (what
when he touched it, and from his voice words seem
which unlike the wind's voice had no need of our filled with
emotion?)
leaves and branches to complete its sound,
T Title (again)
came the ripple.
But it was now no longer a ripple (he had come near and
stopped in my first shadow) it was a wave that bathed me T Theme
as if rain
rose from below and around me
instead of falling.
And what I felt was no longer a dry tingling:
I seemed to be singing as he sang, I seemed to know
what the lark knows; all my sap
was mounting towards the sun that by now
had risen, the mist was rising, the grass
was drying, yet my roots felt music moisten them
deep under earth.
He came still closer, leaned on my trunk:
the bark thrilled like a leaf still-folded.
Music! There was no twig of me not
trembling with joy and fear. Answer the following FSA style questions:
Then as he sang 1. Which aspect of the myth of Orpheus is

it was no longer sounds only that made the music: addressed in both the story and the poem?
he spoke, and as no tree listens I listened, and language a. Eurydice falls in love with Orpheus
came into my roots b. The trees fall in love with Orpheus
out of the earth, c. Orpheus receives a lyre as a child
into my bark d. The woods and the hills try to cheer
out of the air, up Orpheus.
into the pores of my greenest shoots
gently as dew 2. Which aspect of the poem is NOT
and there was no word he sang but I knew its meaning. addressed in the story?
He told me of journeys, a. That the trees had never heard music
of where sun and moon go while we stand in dark, before
of an earth-journey he dreamed he would take some day b. That the trees are in love with
deeper than roots ... Orpheus
He told of the dreams of man, wars, passions, griefs, c. That Orpheus plays the lyre
and I, a tree, understood words – ah, it seemed d. That Orpheus is a singer
my thick bark would split like a sapling's that
grew too fast in the spring 3. Which of the following lines from the
when a late frost wounds it. text best illustrate the tree’s feeling for
Orpheus?
a. “He was a man, it seemed: the
Fire he sang,
two moving stems, the short
that trees fear, and I, a tree, rejoiced in its flames.
trunk”
New buds broke forth from me though it was full summer.
b. “But the white fog
As though his lyre (now I knew its name)
didn't stir; the leaves of my brothers
were both frost and fire, its chords flamed
remained outstretched,
up to the crown of me.
unmoving.”
I was seed again.
c. “from his voice which unlike the
I was fern in the swamp.
wind's voice had no need of our
I was coal.
leaves”
d. “Fire he sang, that trees fear, and I, a
tree, rejoiced in its flames”

Comparing The Myth of Orpheus and A Tree Telling of Orpheus

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Comparing The Myth of Orpheus and A Tree Telling of Orpheus

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Comparing The Myth of Orpheus and A Tree Telling of Orpheus

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

White dawn. Stillness. When the rippling began

Yet the rippling drew nearer – and then

Then as he sang 1. Which aspect of the myth of Orpheus is

You might also like