Eurydice - To Victor Hugo
By Algernon Charles Swinburne
Orpheus, the night is full of tears and cries,
And hardly for the storm and ruin shed
Can even thine eyes be certain of her head
Who never passed out of thy spirit's eyes,
But stood and shone before them in such wise
As when with love her lips and hands were fed,
And with mute mouth out of the dusty dead
Strove to make answer when thou bad'st her rise.
Yet viper-stricken must her lifeblood feel
The fang that stung her sleeping, the foul germ
Even when she wakes of hell's most poisonous worm,
Though now it writhe beneath her wounded heel.
Turn yet, she will not fade nor fly from thee;
Wait, and see hell yield up Eurydice.
Orpheus, the night is full of tears and cries,
And hardly for the storm and ruin shed
Can even thine eyes be certain of her head
Who never passed out of thy spirit's eyes,
But stood and shone before them in such wise
As when with love her lips and hands were fed,
And with mute mouth out of the dusty dead
Strove to make answer when thou bad'st her rise.
Yet viper-stricken must her lifeblood feel
The fang that stung her sleeping, the foul germ
Even when she wakes of hell's most poisonous worm,
Though now it writhe beneath her wounded heel.
Turn yet, she will not fade nor fly from thee;
Wait, and see hell yield up Eurydice.
Analysis
The poet, Algernon Charles Swinburne, wrote this poem in a way that pitied Orpheus's loss of his love and how it lead up to his decision to try to rescue her from the Underworld. The first line reads " Orpheus, the night is full of tears and cries," showing that Orpheus was grieving. The second stanza, starting with "And hardly..." discusses the love that the coupled shared before their luck ran out and Eurydice was killed.
The first two lines of the last stanza say "Yet viper-stricken must her lifeblood feel/ The fang that stung her sleeping." Within the poem, this begins to draw a picture for the audience to begin to understand why Orpheus was upset. The full connection is made when Swinburne finally releases the name of Eurydice at the end as he consistently referred to her as "her" throughout the poem.
The first two lines of the last stanza say "Yet viper-stricken must her lifeblood feel/ The fang that stung her sleeping." Within the poem, this begins to draw a picture for the audience to begin to understand why Orpheus was upset. The full connection is made when Swinburne finally releases the name of Eurydice at the end as he consistently referred to her as "her" throughout the poem.
About the Author: Algernon Charles Swinburne
- Born in Grosvenor Place, London
- Grew up on Isle of Wight
- 1837-1909
- Studied French and Italian
- Eton and Balliol College, Oxford
- Lyric poet of Victorian era
- High Church Anglican
- Countered conservative ideals of his time
- Poems and Ballads (1866), The Queen-Mother and Rosamond (1860)