OrpheusEurydice1.0317

OrpheusEurydice1.0317_Goll

OGCMA s.v. "Orpheus and Eurydice"

Iwan Goll, 1891-1950, Der neue Orpheus: eine Dithyrambe, lyric poem in several chapters, Berlin-Wilmersdorf: Aktion, 1918 = facsimile reprint Der rote Hahn, herausgegeben von Franz Pfemfert, nr. 5 (Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus, 1973). Text in pdf on file.

Reid groups this text under "Orpheus and Eurydice"; however, having now read the text, I am strongly inclined to put it under Orpheus-General List, for Eurydice is mentioned but once and not in an overtly functional way. Rather, Goll's poem is all about the power that Orpheus' song imposes upon the world —— beginning with the world of animals and then moving to the world of men, Orpheus exhibits uncanny powers of persuasion and returns for a third thousand years, much as a powerful Messiah in his second coming. Eurydice is relegated to a one-line mention.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.