Eurydice
3
9.9
- proper noun
- Literature
- In the myth, Eurydice's untimely death brings great sorrow to her husband, Orpheus.
- Orpheus and Eurydice
Examples
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For some, her story evokes the classical narrative of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which a man (almost) frees his beloved from death.
Academic text (2011) -
Just as Orpheus sings the loss of Eurydice, so Leiris writes the loss of voice.
Academic text (2005) -
I believe I am that friend, and it is the Chicago Eurydice that I love.
Blog text (14) -
At that point, Eurydice's life becomes his love, his mission, and his loss.
Blog text (14) -
I wanted, Igor, to describe Eurydice, to write a poem worthy of her name.
Fiction book (1994) -
What they share, these paintings, is Eurydice's solitude and pain.
Blog text (14) -
As noted above, Orpheus wins Eurydice from the underworld by charming the powers that reign there with his song.
Academic text (2008) -
Orpheus: having led Eurydice up from the Underworld, he turned to make sure she hadn't tired behind him.
Fiction book (2001) -
Orpheus, the poet, wins over the guardians of the underworld with his songs, and Eurydice is returned to him on the condition that he does not look back.
Academic text (2008) -
Where marriage and poetry produced no discordant music for Orpheus, Williams was not so enamored of his Eurydice that he would bargain with the gods to let him fetch her back from hell.
Academic text (2007)
Surface Forms
Etymology
Eurydice comes from Greek parts eurys 'wide' and dike 'justice', so her name can be read as 'wide justice'. A helpful way to remember Eurydice is to think of her as the important woman whose loss sends Orpheus into the underworld to try to bring her back.