Summary
Summary Stephen Spender - "No Orpheus, No Eurydice" - Analysis
This is a summary and analysis of the poem "No Orpheus, No Eurydice" by Stephen Spender.
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STANZA ONEViolence would feel gentle because he has been subjected to the
ultimate heartbreak - the ultimate violence - his beloved leaving him.
Time has separated them, and separated him from her kisses.
STANZA TWO
His thoughts which seem to dance around the walls of his room are all
about “the absent one”, his beloved. She is dead and waiting for him
in the world beyond expecting him to follow when she calls.
STANZA THREE
Her loss is death, but he is the one who has to live in a life without her
presence. We begin to suspect that it is not death that has separated
them. The lines - “True it may be, she did leave//Me, for another’s
kiss…”suggests that she found someone else.
The speaker asserts that their lives were entwined; reaffirms that their
bond was so strong that the “blank space” in his heart is hers being
torn apart from his. He believes that her heart must have torn as well,
being apart from his.
STANZA FOUR
But if the speaker were to start “on that long journey//Of the freshly
departed” i.e., death. He talks of “a slum Bank Holiday” – the people
living in a slum do not have access to banks, and its as if they are
perpetually on a bank holiday. This paints an image of complete
desolation and despair.
(Lethean shore refers to the shore of the river Lethe - one of the four
rivers in the Underworld according to Greek mythology.)
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