《奧菲歐爵士》：音樂的時空性 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文. 指導教授：施堂模先生 Advisor：Professor Thomas John Sellari. 《奧菲歐爵士》：音樂的時空性. 政治大. The Temporality of Music in Sir Orfeo. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. 研究生：鄭文嘉撰 Name：Wen-chia Cheng. 中華民國 102 年 6 月 June, 2013. v.

(2) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(3) The Temporality of Music in Sir Orfeo. 政治大. A Master Thesis Presented to Department of English,. 立. ‧ 國. 學. National Chengchi University. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Wen-chia Cheng June, 2013.


(5) To My Family 獻給我的家人. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. iii. i n U. v.


(7) Acknowledgements This thesis would not be completed without the cordial supports from people who care about me and encourage me whenever difficulties appear. First of all, I am thankful to my advisor Prof. Thomas John Sellari, who made efforts in reviewing my thesis and shared academic opinions whenever he felt pertinent. I admire his. 政治大 members Prof. Lin Chih-hsin and Prof. Liu Ya-shih. I appreciate all the help and 立 generosity and patience as well. My warmest thanks also go to the committee. advice Prof. Lin Chih-hsin offered me. It is by her inspiring course Middle English. ‧ 國. 學. Literature that I venture into the research of Sir Orfeo and its relation to medieval. ‧. music theories; Prof. Liu Ya-shih, a considerate and enthusiastic teacher, carefully. sit. y. Nat. examined through my thesis and gave constructive feedback during the defense. I. io. er. would also like to extend my thanks to Prof. Yang Ming-tsang for his professional guidance at the thesis proposal defense and intriguing course Visual Culture and. n. al. Ch. Textual Politics in Late Medieval England.. engchi. i n U. v. In addition, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to those who kindly lent their hands to me through the progress of thesis writing, especially Prof. Hu Jing-yuan, Prof. Yin Yun-mei, my graduate school classmate Hsu Ling-wen, and my piano instructor Lee Min. The core issue of this thesis, the underworld journey and its relation to boundary making, is inspired by Travel Narrative, one of Prof. Hu Jing-yuan’s enlightening courses. Her course is truly a gift. I enjoyed the great time of attending her classes and am also grateful for other supports that she generously offers me; Prof. Yin Yun-mei, a devoted teacher with earnestness and benevolence, does her iv.

(8) best to afford me any sort of help and shows her concerns not only to me but also to people in my life, my family in particular. It is a bless to have her company through my graduate study; As for the correction of format and minute details, I deeply appreciate the warm and timely response from Hsu Ling-wen, who peer-reviewed my thesis and provided editorial help; Also, I could not thank more to my piano instructor Lee Min, an attentive teacher who treats every student as her treasure and spares nothing to share her insights on music as well as her expertise in musicology. She has the most patience in listening and accompanied me through any unexpected. 政治大. adversities. It is with her thoughtfulness and wisdom that I came to the last step of finishing my thesis.. 立. Finally, my sincere gratitude goes to my family, the administrative assistants of. ‧ 國. 學. the English Department in National Cheng Chi University, the piano club of National. ‧. Tsing Hua University, my friends, and the colleagues in CBS, without whom I could. sit. y. Nat. hardly go through the journey to completing my thesis. It indeed has been a long way. io. al. n. above.. er. struggling in writing a thesis, an achievement that should be attributed to the people. Ch. engchi. v. i n U. v.

(9) Table of Contents. Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................iv Chinese Abstract..........................................................................................................vii English Abstract............................................................................................................ix Chapter I Introduction 1. The Quest for Continuity when Facing Change and Loss ................................1. 政治大 3. Methodology and Thesis Statement.................................................................17 立. 2. Literature Review.............................................................................................11. 4. Organization.....................................................................................................19. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter II. Augustine’s De musica: Music, Body, and Eternity. ‧. 1. Time and Eternity.............................................................................................21. sit. y. Nat. 2. Music, Time, and Order...................................................................................43. io. er. 3. Metaphysics and the Myth of Passage.............................................................51 4. Reconsidering Contemporality in Music..........................................................56. al. n. v i n C and Orfeo’s Harping Journey: Being and Being beyond U h ethenOtherworld i h gc. Chapter III Time. 1. Defining Contemporality: the Journey into the Chaotic State of Being........59 2. The Temporality of Music in Sir Orfeo...........................................................74 3. The Wandering as the Waiting: the Preparatory State of the Journey.............78 4. The Double of the Kingdom of Life and the Kingdom of Death.....................89 5. Temporal Transcendence as Continuity and Salvation..................................101 Chapter IV Conclusion............................................................................................105 Works Cited...............................................................................................................110 vi.

(10) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士班碩士論文提要. 論文名稱：《奧菲歐爵士》：音樂的時空性. 指導教授：施堂模. 先生. 研究生：鄭文嘉. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 論文提要內容：. ‧. 《奧菲歐爵士》(Sir Orfeo) 是一首十三世紀晚期至十四世紀初期的傳奇敘事詩，其中重複出現的時空特性強調出奧菲爾斯傳統中「失去」的主題。克服失去. y. Nat. sit. 的難題顯示了在無常的世界中維持恆常的困頓—如何在娑婆的世間找尋精神的. er. io. 寄託所在，以解失去對於個人時空感受所造成的罣礙，體驗生命的當下？於多數. al. n. v i n Ch 其突顯了在無常之中對於秩序與生命延續 i U 的訴求。這首詩中，不同 e n g c h(continuity). 奧菲爾斯版本之中，到冥界挽回尤瑞柢思 (Eurydice) 的旅程是一個重要的場景，. 的延續觀出現於聽覺導向的人間王國與視覺導向的精靈王國，再再顯示了維持恆常的重要性。作為重回秩序的工具，奧菲歐的豎琴為此議題提供了重要的線索。問題的重心在於音樂中協調時空的力量，也就是所謂的共時性，其中蘊涵了奧菲爾斯文本中自身與世界的關係，及其與變動時空，延續感，以及重建秩序的關聯。奧古斯都 (St. Augustine) 的《音樂論》(De musica) 從八世紀晚期到十五世紀以來一直都是一部影響深遠的著作，為音樂中的時間經驗提供了完整的哲學分析。從奧古斯都的音樂時間觀所呈現的先驗及秩序概念出發，此論文目的在於檢視奧菲歐的豎琴中所顯示出中古時期對於無常 (temporalia) 與先驗 (transcendence) 的關懷主題。此項研究在於一種經由音樂與時空所協調出的經驗 vii.

(11) 感受。除了探討人類王國與精靈王國之間的辯證關係，也揭示了《奧菲歐爵士》對於存在、當下、以及人類價值 (humanity) 所表現出來的核心態度。誠如奧菲歐與野外動物們共享短暫的和諧經驗所示 (272-80)，奧古斯都的先驗及永恆觀與奧菲歐豎琴中變動的感官特性並不相符。儘管如此，他對於靈魂律動所提出的解釋，以及記憶是一種出於心智印象 (phantasiai) 的看法，為我們提供檢驗精靈王國時空感的理論基礎。為了解釋音樂中的和諧如何經由時間經驗讓奧菲歐在變動的世界中維持恆心，此篇論文分成四個章節：第一章介紹相關主題及評論。第二章介紹. 政治大間觀。在第三章中，我將進一步分析《奧菲歐爵士》中的時空觀。奧菲歐的豎琴立中古時期與奧菲爾斯神化相關的音樂理論背景並且闡釋奧古斯都音樂論中的時. 所帶來的和諧經驗將會以個人內在與變動外在的互動回饋機制來檢視。這樣的內. ‧ 國. 學. 外交流呈現出一種變動的先驗觀，將永恆寄託在一種有機變動中所體驗的延續感。. ‧. 其同時也揭露了自身與世界互動的關鍵模式，透過精神蛻變 (metamorphosis) 和. sit. y. Nat. 冥界之旅等面向，增進我們了解失去及無常的主題。最後，我將在第四章以豎琴. io. er. 的社會意義作結，解釋其對於口說傳統的文化傳承帶來什麼樣的影響，並提供其他奧菲爾斯文本一個不同的角度來觀看自身與世界的關係。. n. al. Ch. engchi. viii. i n U. v.

(12) Abstract Loss, the dominant theme in the Orphic tradition, is accentuated by the recurring issue of temporality in Sir Orfeo, a late thirteenth or early fourteenth century romance. The difficulty of overcoming loss posts the question of finding spiritual residence and maintaining spiritual progress in the temporal world. The underworld journey to retrieving Eurydice, as a major scene in most adaptations of the myth, signifies the. 政治大. quest of order and continuity through changes. Such an issue of maintaining constancy. 立. is highlighted by the different features of continuity appearing in the hearing-oriented. ‧ 國. 學. human kingdom and the sight-oriented fairy world. Orfeo’s harping, as the means for recovery, offers a significant clue in viewing this issue. The question falls on the. ‧. meditative power of music itself, i.e. the contemporal experience of sentiments, which. Nat. sit. y. reveals the particular self-world relationship embedded in the Orphic texts and its. n. al. er. io. relation to temporality, duration, and the restoration of order.. v. Augustine’s De musica, which had been an influential work from the late eighth. Ch. engchi. i n U. century to the fifteenth century (Fitzgerald 575-76), provides an overall philosophical illustration on the experience of time in music and its relation to maintaining order. Deriving from Augustine’s idea of how the experience of time in music contributes to an understanding of transcendence and order, this thesis aims to examine the medieval concern of temporalia and transcendence manifested in Orfeo’s harping. It is a study of a relationship in space and experience of time that is negotiated through music, which explores the dialectic relationship between Orfeo’s kingdom and the fairyland, and also reveals essential attitude toward existence, presence, and humanity in Sir Orfeo. Although Augustine’s conception of timeless transcendence does not match the ix.

(13) temporal and sensual nature of Orfeo’s harping, as seen in the temporary harmony Orfeo shares with the wild animals (272-80), his exposition on the movement of the soul, together with the explication of memory as images (i.e. phantasiai) operated in the motions of the mind, provide us a theoretical basis for examining the temporality of the fairy world. To illustrate how the harmonic order generated through the experience of time in music contributes to the maintenance of internal consistency within the temporal world, this thesis is divided into four chapters: Chapter one introduces relevant issues and literary criticism. Chapter two offers a detailed explanation of the historical. 治政 background of medieval music theories, the associated allegorical 大 readings of the 立 Orphic texts, and Augustine’s conception of time in the experience of music. In ‧ 國. 學. chapter three, I further analyze the temporality of music in Sir Orfeo and distinguish. ‧. two types of temporality, that of Orfeo’s court and that of the fairyland. The harmonic relationship maintained by Orfeo’s harping is examined in terms of the reciprocal. y. Nat. er. io. sit. interaction between the inner self and the operating world, which prescribes continuity in temporal transcendence and reveals a significant mode of self-world relationship.. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Such a study contributes to our understanding of the theme of loss and change in. engchi. relation to spiritual metamorphosis and the underworld journey. Finally, I conclude in chapter four with the social significance of the harping in order to examine the cultural legacy of the bardic tradition. Through the examination of the mediation of music, I offer an alternative view on the self-world relationship in the Orphic texts.. x.

(14) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION. 政治大. The Quest for Continuity when Facing Change and Loss. 立. Loss, the dominant theme in the Orphic tradition, is accentuated by the. ‧ 國. 學. reoccurring issue of temporality in Sir Orfeo1, a late thirteenth or early fourteenth century romance. The transient nature of the temporal world is highlighted in the. ‧. abduction of Heurodis during the spring time of May (57), which signifies the. Nat. sit. y. unpredictability of loss in life. Owing to the great sorrow, Orfeo renounces his. n. al. er. io. domestic duty and embarks on a ten-year wandering:. Ch. engchi. The king into his chaumber is go. i n U. v. And oft swooned opon the ston, And made swiche diol and swiche mon That neighe his liif was yspent; 1. The main part of my discussion depends on J. A. Burrow and Thorlac Turville-Petre‘s edition of the Auchinleck manuscript. According to the introduction in A Book of Middle English, the Auchinleck manuscript is the canonical version among the three Sir Orfeo manuscripts because it is the earliest and best one (113). The other two later copies of the poem, i.e. the Harley version and the Ashmole version, are considered rather corrupted. Longsworth, however, suspects such a viewpoint, regarding the variants as typical of conventional oral performance which encourages variations rather than ―a definitive text for any specific ‗adventure‘‖ (2). Although Longsworth‘s argument raises a significant issue for the study of Sir Orfeoas well as the romance genre in general, I would focus on the Auchinleck version due to the scope limitation of this thesis. See Bliss for an overview of the three versions.. 1.

(15) Ther was non amendement. He cleped togider his barouns, Erls, lords of renouns, And when thai al ycomen were, ‗Lordinges‘, he said, ‗. . . . . . . . Ich ordainy min height steward To wite mi kingdom afterward. ......................... For now ichave mi quen ylore,. 治政 The fairest levedi that ever was bore, 大立 Never eft y nil no woman se. ‧ 國. 學. Into wilderness ichil te. ‧. And live ther evermore (196-213). y. Nat. er. io. sit. Such a sudden break from one‘s present condition indicates the suspension of one‘s inner state and the difficulty of accepting loss and maintaining internal consistency in. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. an ever-changing world, which makes it hard for Orfeo to let go of the sorrow and. engchi. move on to his normal life. He goes into his chamber and swoons on the floor, indulging himself in grief moaning. There is no amendment. He swears not to look at any other woman and is determined to forsake his kingdom and live forever in the wild. The grief is so much that he even predicts his own death and leaves his will:. With wilde bestes in holte shore, And when ye understond that y be spent, Make you than a parlement 2.

(16) And chese you a newe king. Now doth your best with al mi thing.‘ (213-18). How can life continue without the company of Heurodis? Orfeo‘s will to live seems to be frozen by the moment of such a great loss. The king retrieves into his inner sorrow and banishes himself into the wilderness. The difficulty of overcoming loss addresses the problem of discordance between one‘s experience of time and the presence of life. That is, the sorrow of loss easily traps oneself to past experiences and leads to a rather confined state of being, which makes it hard for one to adjust. 治政 oneself to the status quo and find inner peace. Experiencing 大 great change in life, one 立 has to re-examine one‘s self-world relationship so as to sustain internal consistency. It ‧ 國. 學. is a process of finding spiritual residence and maintaining spiritual progress in the. ‧. world of change, a quest of an order of constancy that enables spiritual metamorphosis.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. The process of how to sustain internal consistency is therefore the main concern in facing loss, which requires a particular order that prescribes continuity in the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. temporal world. In most adaptations of the myth, the protagonist has to undertake an. engchi. underworld journey to retrieve his beloved wife and return to the human world. According to Radcliffe G. Edmonds, it is during this journey that a particular mode of world order is employed, which reflects the ―significant attributes‖ (24) of the living world as well as ―a prescriptive model for change in this world‖ (24):. The myths of the journey to the realm of the dead, like all myths, create a narrative world that reveals the teller‘s models of the world and models for behavior within it; but the story pattern of the underworld journey permits 3.

(17) the teller to lay out these models in a particular clear way. The land of the dead is the ultimate other world, a realm in which normal conditions do not apply. The transition from the familiar everyday world to this unknown realm articulates the contrasts between this world and the other, between the living and the dead. In describing the conditions of life in the realm of death, that is, the hierarchies and distinctions between those whose journey was successful and those who failed to find the proper solutions to the obstacles that faced them, the teller can reinscribe the boundaries of the cosmos, the world order. (24). 立. 政治大. While it is admirable that Edmonds points out the significance of re-inscribing. ‧ 國. 學. worldly boundaries through the underworld journey, the way in which this journey. ‧. opens up the opportunity for the re-inscription of order needs further speculation. Through the imagination of the ―ultimate other world‖ (24), the underworld journey. y. Nat. er. io. sit. initiates an unknown signifying the chaotic state of being. It is an experience of the primal condition of being, through which cultural perception of existence unfolds. In. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. terms of the theme of loss, it not only re-negotiates societal boundaries (Edmonds. engchi. 27), but also re-examines any granted order concerned with the maintenance of inner order. This particular inner order decides the way in which one prepares oneself for the uncertainty of life, a significant factor by which one is able to achieve spiritual rebirth and overcome loss. The process of the re-negotiation or re-examination of order appears to be a distinctive feature in Sir Orfeo in which Orfeo imposes himself a ten-year self-banishment before retrieving Heurodis and restoring his kingdom. Unlike classical rendition of the Orphic myths, where the harper directly searches for. 4.

(18) Eurydice in the underworld,2 Orfeo just wanders aimlessly in the wild, indulging in his own sorrow. To make things stranger, the fairy world is even presented as a fancy otherworld with a sharp contrast between its splendid appearance (355-76) and the distorted bodies behind the gate (390-400). Nevertheless, Orfeo successfully recovers Heurodis and restores his kingdom. Orfeo is regarded as a successful model in regaining order, which prescribes a certain solution or order to the quest of continuity. The issue of maintaining order is highlighted by different features of continuity appearing in Orfeo‘s kingdom and the fairyland. It is interesting to note that both. 治政 Orfeo and the fairy king declare a perpetual continuation 大 of time: Orfeo renounces 立 his domestic duty to live forever in the wild: ―Into wilderness ichil te / And live ther ‧ 國. 學. evermore‖ (212-13), and the fairy king insists that Heurodis should live forever in. ‧. the fairy kingdom: ―. . . thou schalt with ous go / And live with ous evermo‖ (167-68). The status of being eternal appears to be a prominent theme in this poem.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Two conceptions of eternity confront each other: While the fairy king claims his permanent domination over a kingdom of paradisiac splendor where the captives are. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. tortured and Heurodis is put into eternal imprisonment (351-406), Orfeo only. engchi. expresses his suffering of loss by claiming permanent hermitage in the wild, an act which lays stress on sentient experience of time. Opposing to the false image of timeless eternity of the fairy kingdom, the human kingdom maintains a rather temporal continuation of time by sharing celestial joy through harping, as seen in the laud of minstrelsy in the end of the poem, which celebrates the recoronation of Orfeo 2. For the classical rendition of the myth, see Ovid 225-28 (bk.10, 1-111/107), 249-52 (bk.11, 1-84/100), Virgil 105-09 (bk.4, line 453-527), and Boethius 101-02 (bk.3, Song 12). For a romance contemporary to Sir Orfeo, see Henryson‘s Orpheus and Eurydice, the antagonist of which seeks Eurydice in the heavenly spheres before he undertakes the underworld journey. For more adaptations of the myth, see Friedman.. 5.

(19) and also the succession of the human kingdom (589-96). Continuity in the human kingdom refers to a shared experience of sentiments and spiritual harmony which is to be sustained through the harp, an instrument usually signifies the eternity of transcendence. The detailed comparison of the two kingdoms renders a much thorough view on the Orphic theme of loss and change in that these two types of continuity reveal different attitudes toward the temporal world, which addresses the essential issue of maintaining internal consistency and spiritual progress through time. Most literary critics notice the significance of the harp as the source of continuity and. 治政 transcendence. In ―Sir Orfeo, the Minstrel, and the Minstrel‘s 大Art,‖ Robert M. 立 Longsworth attributes the power of order to the art of poetry, asserting that Orfeo‘s ‧ 國. 學. harp is a ―signal of continuity‖ (5) that symbolizes the minstrel‘s art and the power of. ‧. poetry to retain order (8). Adopting Christian allegory in Boethius‘s Consolation of Philosophy, David Jeffery affirms the power of the harp which ―transforms and. y. Nat. er. io. sit. renews the mind eternally, confirming a love which death cannot defeat‖ (56). Fewer critics address the symbolic meaning of the architectural splendor of the fairyland. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. and its association with continuity and order. In ―Orpheus and Orfeo: The Dead and. engchi. the Taken,‖ Dorena Allen underscores the significance of studying relevant issues of human self strongly connected with the fairies, a ―dreaded but picturesque race of immortal beings‖ (102). These issues include the ideas about ―the relationship of soul and body‖ (102) and ―the nature of death and immortality‖ (102). Although Allen illustrates the primitive belief in Celtic tradition, which considers death as ―no more than an illusion and a deceit‖ (109), and explains the picturesque feature of the fairy world, the relation between such a feature and the issue of order and continuity needs further examination. Contrasting Orfeo‘s artistry with the artifice of fairyland, Seth 6.

(20) Lerer regards the harp as music artistry which ―has the power to bring out the order inherent in Creation‖ (93). From here I probe into the two types of continuity exhibited in the human kingdom and the fairyland. What distinguishes the two types of continuity lies in the different perceptions of space, as seen in the contrast between the hearing-oriented human kingdom and the sight-oriented fairy world. Orfeo‘s harping, as the means for recovery, offers a significant clue in viewing the quest for continuity when facing loss and change. Contrasting to the dead image of the fairy world, Orfeo‘s harping not only shares harmony with the wild animals (272-80) and solaces Orfeo during the wandering. 治政 (267), but delights the fairy king (383-84) and serves 大as a social practice that 立 connects Orfeo‘s court (517-18). Most significantly, it possesses a regenerative ‧ 國. 學. power in sustaining cultural legacy, which is shown in the prologue that invokes the. ‧. past adventures of ancient kings sung by the minstrels (1-24) and the epilogue that celebrates the succession of minstrel heritage (597-602). The harmonic effect of the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. harping can be no more accentuated as the means to recover order, which corresponds to the sustaining image of a skillful harper along the Orphic tradition in. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. medieval time and arouses much scholarly attention.3 Consequently, Orfeo is. engchi. regarded as a celestial harper like King David, who dispels the evil of one‘s soul (Friedman 148-49). While the harmonic and therapeutic power in Orfeo‘s harping renders him a Chrisitian figure, the essence of Orfeo‘s harping is rather ambiguous. Although the ――blisseful notes‖ (438) of Orfeo‘s harping connotes religious meaning, he nevertheless calls himself ―an harpour of hethenisse‖ (513), a declaration that could 3. For the identification of Orpheus as a religious figure like Christ or King David, see Friedman 38-85; Louis 645-46. For the reading of Orfeo both as Christ or Adam, see Jeffery 48-60. For the minstrel legacy, see Lerer 106-09; Longsworth 1-11.. 7.

(21) indicate the possibility of regarding Orfeo as a secular minstrel. This secular feature is also observed in his harping. Different from the metaphysical harmony advocated in the Christian allegories of medieval music theories, Orfeo‘s harping addresses more on sensual experiences. Besides, the bardic tradition and the courtly setting endow the poem a rather secular tone. The distinction between the sacred or secular connotation of Orfeo‘s harping is difficult. Either classification could not explain the complexity and richness shown in Orfeo‘s harping. The question falls on the mediative power of music itself, i.e. the contemporal experience of sentiments, which reveals the particular self-world relationship embedded in the Orphic texts and its. 治政 relation to temporality, duration, and salvation. 大立 Many literary critics have already elaborated on the impacts of the power and ‧ 國. 學. function of music. Differing in their approaches, they address the exertion of the. ‧. power of music in recovering loss, the harmonic effect associated with the harping, and also the social, religious, and artistic significance of the harper. Less noticed is. y. Nat. er. io. sit. the very nature of music as the mediation between the harper and the changing world, within which a sense of duration is maintained and possibilities are opened up for the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. coexistence of different experiences of time. As the mediation for one to express. engchi. one‘s sentiments, the harping demonstrates how one associates one‘s sentiments with the world, which reveals the mode of interaction between one‘s sentiments and the outer space, further illustrating the particular perception of space that determines one‘s self-world relationship and constitutes one‘s sense of being through time. It is based on this self-world relationship that one maintains certain inner order, a significant factor for one to face change, overcome loss, and maintain inner consistency and spiritual progress. Despite that the concept of the self is rather complicated, which includes essential factors like mind thoughts, emotions, or any 8.

(22) structured social values, this thesis would mainly focus on the sentiments of being derived from the perception of the space and its relation to the maintaining of inner consistency through time. The temporality shown through the harping may differ from one Orphic version to another and reveal different conceptions of salvation. Salvation here refers to the restoration of inner order, which is usually associated with Christian theology but is not limited as such. Transcendence, as the spiritual harmony prescribing a cosmic order beyond the limit of time, partakes a significant role in examining the restoration of inner order and the quest for continuity. While Christian theology in the Middle Ages often suggests timeless transcendence,. 治政 Orfeo‘s harping carries a temporal feature, as seen in 大the temporary harmony Orfeo 立 shares with the wild animals (272-80). The temporary harmony created through ‧ 國. 學. Orfeo‘s harping addresses more on the sensual aspect of the experience of music,. ‧. which advocates temporal transcendence that embodies and actualizes spirituality in the transitory world.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Although the contemporal experience of sentiments in music does not necessarily bring about spiritual harmony, it serves as a model for conceiving. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. temporal transcendence and helps to understand the harmony appearing in Sir Orfeo,. engchi. as well as the way in which temporal transcendence constitutes the experience of duration and continuity. The definition of music enables us to have a more thorough idea about the function of music and its relationship to our perception of life and world. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, music is the art of ―ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity‖ (767). It is from here I address two distinctive features of music: 1. the experience of contemporality as a way of perceiving continuity and transcendence. 2. The sensual appeal of music that 9.

(23) contributes to the experience of contemporality. As the mediation that connects different sounds and tones, music creates a contemporal space that is richly engaged with temporality. Such a contemporal experience enables the harper to express his subjectivity and connects his own state of being with the external world, which discloses how the harper interacts with the temporal world and experience duration and continuity through time. Therefore, the experience of contemporality refers to a sense of connection generated through the mediation of music which associates diverse temporalities of beings in space and creates a harmonious unity by which transcendental experience is to be perceived. The ontological significance of music. 治政 could be no more stressed by this feature. 大立 The other important feature associated with music is its appeal to hearing during ‧ 國. 學. a period of time that one experiences constant stimuli to the senses, the impression of. ‧. which is simultaneously physical, emotional, and aesthetic. It is a somatic art of expression that is bound in time and retained in our memory. It embodies a form of. y. Nat. er. io. sit. life that is presented in space and continues in time. As a mediation which connects individual sentiments through bodily experience in time, music introduces a. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. transcendental space where spiritual resonance is to be achieved by physicality. Such. engchi. an art relates to the maintenance of a unity by creating a transcendental space within the temporal world. Owing to such a feature, it involves the idea of maintaining harmonic order and wholeness so that one can achieve a transcendental understanding of a world beyond material limits. In other words, the experience of contemporality introduces a sense of connection and relates oneself to a shared cosmic order of being, by which spiritual harmony is to be attained through constant interaction between one‘s sentiment and that of the changing world. This kind of duration is what constitutes the experience of continuity and order through time. At 10.

(24) the same time, it allows individual the openness to perceive the presence of being and maintain inner tranquility, a significant factor in experiencing continuity through change and achieve spiritual metamorphosis. The examination of how Orfeo‘s harping is connected to the experience of contemporality is crucial in viewing the theme of loss and salvation. The study of the temporality of music in Sir Orfeo enables one to distinguish the relationship between Orfeo‘s self and the temporal world, different conceptions of temporality between the fairyland and the human kingdom, and the way minstrels and audiences interact with the practice of bardic tradition through the contemporal. toward existence, presence, and humanity in Sir Orfeo.. 學. ‧ 國. 治政 experience aroused by the harping. It is a study of a大 relationship in space and 立 experience of time that is negotiated through music, which reveals essential attitude ‧. Literature Review. y. Nat. io. sit. Deriving from the classical myth Orpheus and Eurydice known to medieval. n. al. er. people primarily through Greco-Roman tradition,4 Sir Orfeo tells a story of marvels. Ch. i n U. v. and fidelity of love. This particular work of art distinguishes itself from other Orphic. engchi. versions by Orfeo‘s successful recovery of Heurodis from the willful fairy king and also by his restoration of the kingdom from his steward. Within this rather short narrative, divergent literary traditions interweave with each other and flourish in the specific setting of medieval romance, resulting in variant allegorical readings of the poem and rendering it elusive for interpretation.5 Compared with the figure of 4. See Ovid 225-28 (bk.10, 1-111/107), 249-52 (bk.11, 1-84/100), Virgil 105-09 (bk.4, line 453-527), and Boethius 101-02 (bk.3, Song 12).. 5. For the problem concerning allegorical readings of Sir Orfeo and the distinction between interpretation of an allegory and allegorical interpretation, see Jeff Rider ―Receiving Orpheus in the. 11.

(25) classical myth, the once pagan Greek harper is transformed into a minstrel king, who simultaneously performs a role of social, religious, and artistic significance. The bleak Hades is turned into a fairyland with a marvelous appearance like a paradise, in spite of its limbo scene behind the gate. Given different contexts, Orfeo could be identified with images ranging from courtly king (Kinghorn 363), Christ-like savior (Jeffery 57), and performers with various artistic values (Lerer 106-09),6 to name just a few. Accordingly, the fairy king represents fickle Fortune, which could be viewed as unchallengeable natural forces, the heartless Pluto, or the demonic Satan.7 The fairyland not only serves as the source of marvels for narrative enchantment but also. 治政 as the counterpart of the human world, be it the underworld大 or the other world. In the 立 face of such other spaces, values of all sorts embed their meanings on the issue of the ‧ 國. 學. inevitability of loss and the order retained.. ‧. As mentioned above, the complexity of Sir Orfeo is mainly due to its different sources of literary traditions: classical myth, Celtic myth, Romance adventure,. y. Nat. io. sit. Christianity, and finally the bardic tradition. Each source has drawn a fairly large. n. al. er. amount of critics‘ attention and has undergone long-term discussion.8 Accordingly,. Ch. i n U. v. four trends of literary critiques emerge as canonical readings: mythical allegory,. engchi. Christian allegory, human interests in Romance, and the bardic tradition. These interpretations divert from one another on issues concerning the image of the harper, which plays a crucial role in viewing the charm of the fairy world, the significance of Middle Ages: Allegorization, Remythification and Sir Orfeo.‖ Papers on Language & Literature 24 (1988): 343-66. 6. For the ambiguity in defining narrative achievement of medieval minstrelsy and its association with musician, singer, or story teller, see George Shuffelton. ―Is There a Minstrel in the House?: Domestic Entertainment in Late Medieval England.‖Philological Quarterly 87 (2008): 51-76. 7. For the symbolic meanings of the fairy king, see Knapp 263-69; Jeffery 54; Friedman 184.. 8. For a detailed review of the sources of Sir Orfeo, see Knapp 263-73; Keeble193-206.. 12.

(26) Orfeo‘s self-imposed exile and his recovery of Heurodis and the kingdom, as well as the narrative arrangement of the lay. Owing to this fact, the thesis would review associated issues, despite some of their seeming irrelevancies, so that the reader may obtain a thorough understanding of the image of the harper and its impact on the reading of Sir Orfeo. Early critics praise Sir Orfeo as one of the most charming medieval English romances and the best of lays (Keeble 193).9 Dazzled by the marvel of the fairyland, many of them resort to mythical sources for the symbolic importance of the fairyland. They agree with the influences of diverted mythical origins upon the text while. 治政 proposing different viewpoints on the integration of大 classical myths and Celtic 立 tradition. By maintaining the marvel of the fairies inherited from Celtic tradition, ‧ 國. 學. Bruce Mitchell regards the fairyland as a pleasant otherworld, where adventure takes. ‧. place and further requires the elimination of structural banality of the limbo scene (156). Critics who adopt a more synthetic view relate the fairyland to the Hades of. y. Nat. er. io. sit. classical myth and see Sir Orfeo as a repetition of the theme of a mythical hero countering death, with details substituted from the fairy tradition (Allen 109), or as a. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. mixture of mythical tales and medieval social setting (Davis 166). Consequently, the. engchi. harper is recognized as a mythical hero who wins back his wife by his cunning wit and resolution (Allen 110-11). The role of the harper is almost unnoticed and serves only as a lingering image for mythical identification. Such studies of mythical sources stress the heroic image of Orfeo. What is left unexplained is the significance of his self-imposed wandering, the successful recovery without second loss, and the prologue that alludes to the bardic tradition, which distinguishes Sir Orfeo from other. 9. As Keeble points out, these scholarly praises include Renwick and Orton 418; Kittredge 176; Servers 187; Foulet 46; Hibbard 195.. 13.

(27) Orphic works. Offering Christian allegorical interpretations, other early critics regard Orfeo as a biblical musician king, who exerts his power to cure the soul and overcomes loss through harping. While the analogy between the harper and Christian figures is commonly seen within a medieval religious setting, the multiplicity of the text in such readings tends to be reduced to the exposition of biblical truth. The harp is thought to be the kingly instrument of ―ratio and harmony‖ (Jeffery 50) which has ―a significant range of employments‖ (Jeffery 50).10 The harper is deemed as ―a divinely inspired musician who conquers the ruler of the Otherworld‖ (Louis 646) and overcomes the. 治政 loss of his kingdom and his lady ―both by patience, humility, 大and loyalty‖ (Louis 立 646). Such a reading identifies Orfeo as a Christian savior or a second Adam who 11. ‧ 國. 學. restores his kingdom through the harmonic power of music. The exile is considered. ‧. the pilgrimage that seems to be a ―Christian substitute for death‖ (Louis 648), during which Orfeo learns virtue. While David Jeffery admirably reveals the way that the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. sense of cosmic understanding derived from the harping accounts for its therapeutic power and also harmonizes Orfeo himself (56-58), the Christian allegory does not. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. explain the powerlessness of the harping in curing his deranged wife and in guarding. engchi. her from being taken away by the willful king. In fact, it‘s Orfeo‘s own monologic confession that brings Heurodis out of madness (102-116). As Jeffery indicates, the reason for this powerlessness at the beginning could be possibly ascribed to the merging of narrative and Christian allegory, which shows the poet‘s effort in synthesizing ―natural man and God man‖ (53). The split point could be detected in 10. Jeffrey later on gives another title of the same article as ―Sir Orfeo‘s Harp: Music for the End of Time‖ in Houses of the Interpreter: Reading Scripture, Reading Culture, 2003. 11. For the study of Christian allegory, also see Louis 643-55; Masi 3–20; Friedman 148-55; Riddy 5-15; Doob 158-207.. 14.

(28) Orfeo‘s sudden spiritual metamorphosis and determination to enter the fairyland, from whence he ―carries his harp into the court of King Pluto‖ (54), i.e. the fairy king, and ―charm[s] away death‘s power‖ (54). Although the harmonizing power of the harp is carefully explicated in this reading, it could not explain the fairy king‘s quick withdrawal from his promise to grant any handsome reward to Orfeo (451), including the fair Heurodis. Orfeo‘s harping does not conquer the king of the other world but delights the fairy court and wins the chance for the king‘s consent to release Heurodis (Lerer 105). The analogy between Orfeo and Christian figures addresses Orfeo‘s virtues and kingship in terms of religious value. What needs further examination is. 治政 the much more secular values embedded in the music 大of the minstrel, especially those 立 of social and artistic significance. ‧ 國. 學. Critics who draw their attention on the thematic study of romance emphasize the. ‧. social setting and human interest in Sir Orfeo. As Knapp summarizes Northrop Frye‘s viewpoint, romance is a genre that deals with the ―conditions of our world‖ (269). In. y. Nat. er. io. sit. this vein, Sir Orfeo exemplifies the medieval domestication of classical myths to tell a story of a human hero who wins back his wife by his prowess and fidelity in conjugal. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. love. The narration is considered to have structural flaws, which result in the. engchi. ―awkward transition and inconsistencies‖ of the plot (Kinghorn 369). Similar studies address how the Greek harper is transformed into a kingly one. 12 As in mythical studies, the role of the harper serves as a heroic image for the interests of the audience. The world of Sir Orfeo is based upon this human/evil dichotomy in which the narrative arrangement of the plot is rendered illogical. The ―inconsistent‖ narrative 12. For the transformation between the Greek harper and the harper king, see R. H. Nicholson, ―Sir Orfeo: A ‗KyngesNoote‘‖ The Review of English Studies New Series 36 (1985): 161-79; James F Knapp also provides a synthetic view of the heroic image between mythos and romance: ―The conflict in Sir Orfeo may be described in terms of a mythic hero attempting to deliver his world from the powers of darkness.‖ (269). 15.

(29) arrangement of the self-imposed exile and the recovery is overlooked. The significance of the harping is also left unnoticed. Later scholars have begun to examine the minstrelsy in Sir Orfeo in terms of its artistic value and narrative achievement.13 By associating Orfeo‘s harping with the art of minstrelsy and oral tradition, the harping symbolizes the power of poetry and artistry that could bring about natural and civic harmony. As Lerer indicates, Orfeo‘s artistry is ―a musical skill which does not simply dazzle the senses but which can move the spirit‖ (93). Such an interpretation underscores the importance of minstrelsy, an oral tradition that could share a harmonic atmosphere between the. 治政 performer/storyteller and the listener/audience. Critics admire 大the joy celebrated in 立 Orfeo‘s melodious harping, which plays a crucial role in the art of minstrelsy. While ‧ 國. 學. critics have clarified the function of music as the source of establishing order and. ‧. stressed on the civilizing force of music to ―bring into harmony nature, society, and other temporal powers‖ (Longsworth 8), the way in which sensual experiences in. y. Nat. io. sit. music create spiritual harmony—the exact process of how the practice of harping. n. al. er. could ―move the spirit‖ (Lerer 93) and contribute to the maintenance of internal. Ch. i n U. v. consistency or experience of contemproatliy—requires further examination. Besides. engchi. focusing on phenomenal effects of the power of music and symbolic meanings associated with the harper, it is also of necessary importance to scrutinize the temporality associated with music in Sir Orfeo, which may contribute to our understanding of the conception of harmony, the function of music in Orfeo‘s harping, and its relation to the Orphic theme of loss.. 13. For a detailed discussion of the narrative achievement in Sir Orfeo, see Liuzza 282; Ker 194; Mehl; Keeble 193-206; Hynes-Berry 652-70; Longsworth 1-11.. 16.

(30) Methodology and Thesis Statement Augustine‘s De musica, which had been an influential work from the late eighth century to the fifteenth century (Fitzgerald 575-76), provides an overall philosophical illustration on the experience of time in music. According to Augustine, the study of how physical movement is experienced through senses reveals intrinsic principles of the soul (336-37) and leads toward the understanding of ratios in music as the unchanging truth signifying metaphysical wisdom and transcendental order. Augustine also emphasizes the importance of understanding the movement of the soul through the memory activated in the corporeal experience of motion in music.. 治政 Through the corporeal experience of music, Augustine 大explores the movement of the 立 soul and recognizes the unchanging form of ratios as the transcendental order that ‧ 國. 學. connects the self to the eternity of God. As Augustine indicates in the beginning of. ‧. chapter six of De musica, ―[t]he mind is raised from the consideration of changeable numbers in inferior things to unchangeable numbers in unchangeable truth itself‖. y. Nat. er. io. sit. (324; bk. 6, pref.). By reasoning, one can detect ―incorporeal things‖ like the unchangeable truth of God from the changeable and inferior things like corporeal. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. senses of the motion in the material world (325-26; bk.6, ch.2, sec.2). As will be. engchi. explicated in chapter two, this conception of transcendence and continuity does not prescribe contemporality in the temporal world. Nevertheless, his exposition on the movement of the soul, together with the explication of memory as ―images‖ operated in the motions of the mind, provide us a theoretical basis for examining the temporality of the fairy world, which is sight-oriented. In examining the temporality of music in Sir Orfeo, I propose that music serves not only as the metaphysical and transcendental order of ratios that mediates between God and human, as contended in Augustine‘s De musica, but also as the sensual and 17.

(31) yet spiritual experience of a cosmic order that mediates between one‘s sentiments and the operating world. Starting from Augustine‘s idea of how musical experience of time contributes to a medieval understanding of transcendence, I would like to offer a secular and humane reading of Sir Orfeo that explains the narrative importance of Orfeo‘s self-imposed wandering, the successful restoration of his kingdom, and also the invocation of the past in the bardic tradition. I argue for the possibility that Orfeo‘s ―blisseful notes‖ (438) could be regarded as the harping of a secular minstrel, whose harmonic effect lies in music itself instead of the allegorical Christian savior. That is, the sensual aspect of Orfeo‘s harping could be viewed as an aesthetic. 治政 experience of spiritual harmony other than the metaphysical 大and therefore conceptual 立 harmony of ratios that signifies God‘s order. Through the contemporal experience of ‧ 國. 學. music, one‘s temporality corresponds to that of the temporal world, between which a. ‧. polychronic harmony of multiple temporalities is sustained. In other words, the appreciation of music itself could also bring about spiritual harmony among the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. performers, the audience, and the changing world. The function of music is to harmonize and temper the heart, which contributes to the formation of duration and. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. continuity in Orfeo, his followers, the minstrel narrator, and the audience as well. The. engchi. sense of continuity and duration further explains the necessity of Orfeo‘s carrying the harp during his self-imposed exile. Orfeo‘s ability to sustain his heart through harping, together with his eloquence, is the key to his success in retrieving Heurodis and his kingdom. Music possesses the power to maintain integrity, love, and loyalty in Sir Orfeo, which offers us an alternative perspective on the theme of loss as a human condition.. 18.

(32) Organization To illustrate the way in which the harmonic order is generated through the experience of time in music and how such an order contributes to the maintenance of Orfeo‘s heart within the temporal world, I divide my thesis into four parts: ―Introduction‖ (Chapter 1), ―Music, Body, and Eternity‖ (Chapter 2), ―Orfeo‘s Harping and the Otherworld Journey: Being and Being beyond Time‖ (Chapter 3), and ―Conclusion‖ (Chapter 4). Such an organization also demonstrates how aesthetic and aural experiences of time in music influences cultural perception of the space both in Sir Orfeo and in the medieval society.. 治政 Chapter one introduces the topic concerned and 大the relevant literary criticism. 立 Chapter two offers a detailed explanation of the historical background of medieval ‧ 國. 學. music theories, the associated allegorical readings of the Orphic texts, and. ‧. Augustine‘s conception of time in the experience of music. This section focuses on the metaphysical approach to a transcendental order perceived in the rhythm of. y. Nat. io. sit. musical experience, which serves as the philosophical basis for observing the. n. al. er. temporality in the sight-oriented fairy world. Starting from Augustine‘s philosophy of. Ch. i n U. v. music, I further analyze the temporality of Sir Orfeo in chapter three and distinguish. engchi. two types of temporality, that of Orfeo‘s court and that of the fairyland. The harmonic relationship maintained by Orfeo‘s harping will be examined in terms of the reciprocal interaction between the inner self and the operating world, which prescribes continuity in temporal transcendence. This interaction explains the ontological significance of the harping in Sir Orfeo, which creates room for social union by the organically structured experience of time shared between individual beings and the world. Finally, I conclude in chapter four with the cultural significance of the harping in order to offer an alternative view on the self-world 19.

(33) relationship in other Orphic texts, as well as the legacy of the bardic tradition.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 20. i n U. v.

(34) CHAPTER II AUGUSTINE‟S DE MUSICA: MUSIC, BODY, AND ETERNITY. A God enthroned beyond time in timeless eternity would have to renounce music. . . Are we to suppose that we mortals, in possessing such a wonder as music, are more privileged than God? Rather, to save music for him, we shall. 政治大. hold, with the Greeks, that God cannot go behind time.. 立. Otherwise what would he be doing with all the choiring angels?. ‧ 國. 學. Victor Zuckerkandl, Sound and Symbol: Music and the External World14. ‧. Time and Eternity. sit. y. Nat. Time, as the determinant for existence in the temporal world, has always been a. al. er. io. controversial factor in conceiving eternity. The major problem lies in the question. v. n. whether time should be involved in transcendence, where there “should be” no. Ch. engchi. i n U. fallenness and therefore is spared from the “corruption” of time. The ardent debates of such an issue are marked by the sharp contrast between the temporal eternity and the timeless one, a concept that is inherited mainly through the Platonic tradition.15 Accordingly, different modes of order are generated from the divergent perspectives of time and eternity, which refer to disparate perceptions of change and continuity. The 14. Because of difficulty in accessing Zuckerkandl‟s work, this passage is quoted in Begbie 128.. 15. While timeless eternity advocates a conceptual order through metaphysical reasoning in ratios, temporal eternity finds physicality in time the way to experience transcendence. For the references of Platonic tradition and Aristotelian views on timeless eternity, see Leyden 35-52. For temporal eternity and also the comparison between these two types of eternity, see Begbie 71-97.. 21.

(35) controversy requires further clarification of the character of time. As Jeremy S. Begbie points out, the significance of time on order bases on the fact that “[t]ime is central to human change but also to stability: claiming that something is stable is to claim continuity of identity through time. Time is basic to human order, for without temporal order there can be no order in our lives at all” (30). Although the focus of this thesis is about the “experience” of continuity rather than the continuity of “identity,” which requires intellectual recognition, there is no doubt that time plays an essential part when it comes to the maintenance of duration and continuity through change. On the one hand, change could not occur without the passage of time. On the other hand, it is. 治政 through time that lastingness could be experienced. The stability 大 is evident of an 立 operating order that transcends change and prescribes continuity through time and ‧ 國. 學. space. The way in which such an order is interrelated with time and space is. ‧. significant in exploring the issue of transcendence, eternity, and its relation to loss. As will be elaborated in the following passage, the controversial issue of the. y. Nat. er. io. sit. timeless eternity and the temporal one has been the topic of concern along the Orphic tradition, for it addresses the quest of continuity in the temporal world. In Sir Orfeo,. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. similar issue is highlighted by the contrast between the “joies of Paradis” (37) Orfeo. engchi. shares with his audience and the “proude court of Paradis” (376) the fairy king dominates in order to satisfy his possessive urge of the beauty of temporal things. Despite expressing certain features of continuity, these two paradises refer to divergent states of being, which provides essential clue in understanding the significance of temporality in Orfeo‟s successful restoration of his previous state. That is, the entire poem emphasizes the transcendental experience of harping as the source of continuity in the human kingdom, in comparison with which the fairy kingdom resorts to glamorous appearance of everlasting lightness that magnifies his kingdom of marvel. 22.

(36) Dazzled by the splendor of all sorts of well-crafted jewels and architecture, Orfeo is made to believe he enters the realm of Paradise:. He com into a fair cuntray As bright so sonne on somers day, ............................ Amidde the lond a castel he sight, Riche and real and wonder height. Al the utmast wal. 治政 Was clere and schine as cristal; 大立 ......................... ‧ 國. 學. The butras com out of diche. ‧. Of rede gold y-arched riche; The vousour was anowrned al. y. Nat. er. io. sit. Of ich maner divers aumal. Within ther wer wide ones. n. al. Ch. Al of precious stones;. engchi. The werst piler on to bihold Was al of burnist gold. Al that lond was ever light, ....................... As bright as doth at none the sonne. ............................. Bi al thing him think that it is The proude court of Paradis. (351-76) 23. i n U. v.

(37) With all kinds of precious stones that shine brightly like crystal, this splendid castle represents medieval convention in describing Heaven (Lerer 100-01). It is so filled with architecture splendor (Lerer 101) that even the meanest pillar is adorned with burnished gold (368). This castle is indeed a spectacular wonder. Despite the seemingly resemblance of paradise and its everlasting lightness shining “[a]s bright as doth at noon the sonne” (372), the fairyland is shadowed by people captured in the castle:. 治政 The porter undede the gate anon 大立 And lete him in to the castel gon. ‧ 國. 學. Than he gan bihold about al,. ‧. And seighe liggenand within the wal Of folk that were thider ybrought. y. Nat. er. io. Sum stode withouten hade,. n. al. Ch. And sum non armes nade, ...................... sit. And thought ded and nare nought.. engchi. And sum astrangled as thai ete, And sum were in water adretny, And sum with fire al forschreynt; Wives ther lay on child-bedde, Sum ded and sum awedde, And wonder fele ther lay besides Right as thai slepe her undertides; 24. i n U. v.

(38) Eche was thus in this warld ynome, With fairi thider ycome. (385-404). The distorted bodies and suffering people create an uncanny atmosphere, which marks a sharp contrast to the fanciful appearance of the fairyland. The key to understanding the significance of such a contrast lies in the poem‟s referring of the fairy castle as a “proude court” (376), which unfolds its double meanings through the narrative transition of these two scenes: First, it seems to indicate Orfeo‟s amazement upon seeing the splendor of the fairy castle. Yet, it also reveals the character flaw about this. 治政 paradise, a superficial place of visual grandeur where 大suffering inhabitants are caught 立 in extreme pain (Lerer 102). Illustrating A. Bartlett Giamatti‟s idea of enameled ‧ 國. 學. vision as a symbol of “falsity and artificiality” (101), Lerer indicates that the. ‧. paradisiac fairy castle, which is wrought in all manners of “aumal” (364), represents the deceitful world of artifice (98). He further indicates the moral implication of this. y. Nat. io. sit. architectural term by explicating the medieval usage of “admallum” (100) and. n. al. er. “aumallum” (100) as “artificial enamel made by painting on glass or foil” (100) rather. Ch. i n U. v. than “true enamel work” (100). Such an obsession toward external and secular world. engchi. leads to the impairment of higher concerns (101). The artificial splendor of the fairyland strongly suggests moral deficiency (100-01). In spite of its visual resemblance to paradise, the falsity of this place leads to infernal torture (102), posing a sharp contrast to the harping of the human world, which, as evidently shown in music theories of the Boethiun and Fulgentian traditions, is usually related to medieval concern of the union with God and transcendence. It is probable to infer that this artificial world is meant to be an antithesis to the human world, where civil order and its legacy is based upon harmony and sincerity, not the vanity in maintaining 25.

(39) superficial appearance (104-05). Undoubtedly, the contradictory scenes indicate inconsistency of this paradise, which retains only the image of eternity: The detailed description of the distorted bodies presents its fragmental nature. People either stand without heads or arms or get pierced through the body. Besides dismembered bodies, this unsettling world also delineates a rather lively scene of suffering. Some are drowned in the water. Some are put into the fire. The most painful torture appears to fall on women who die in labor or become lunatic. These grotesque bodies create a sense of stagnation, replaying the very scene of death without end. Suspended in a fanciful otherworld, the fairy. 治政 kingdom releases a rather moribund atmosphere, where the大 captured people are 立 thought dead but actually not (389-90). As John Block Friedman observes, the fairy ‧ 國. 學. world bears little resemblance to the classical underworlds, where nearly all shades. ‧. “appear as simulacra of the people they represent, complete and intact” (193). 16 Yet the quasi-death image here shares some similarity with Hades in that it symbolizes a. y. Nat. er. io. sit. spiritless world devoid of joyfulness—the major difference is that the distorted bodies accentuate the bodily experience in space, which emphasizes the particular state of. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. being dead and makes it even more like a world of death. Eternity in this world is. engchi. timeless and yet stagnant, where women were taken by the dictation of the fairy king (404) and caught in a dream-like trance (402). The reason why such a representation of bodily experience appears in Sir Orfeo, together with how the temporality of this bodily experience is related to the Orphic theme of loss, needs further examination. Unlike the fairy kingdom which retains only the image of eternity, the human kingdom finds the paradisiac joys in harping as the source of continuity in the. 16. As Friedman points out, the only exception is Deiphobus.. 26.

(40) temporal world. The practice of harping not only connects people in Orfeo‟s court, but serves as the source of glee during his self-exile:. His harp whereon was al his gle He hidde in an holwe tre, And when the weder was clere and bright, He toke his harp to him wel right And harped at his owhen wille; Into alle the wode the soun gan schille,. 治政 That alle the wilde bestes that ther beth 大立 For joie abouten him thai teth (267-74) ‧ 國. 學 ‧. The significance of the harping is emphasized by the fact that the harp is the only instrument Orfeo brings with him and preserves well “in an holwe tre” (268). It is. y. Nat. er. io. sit. important to notice that the harping functions as the means for Orfeo to sustain his subjectivity and connect with the outside world. That is, the harp is an instrument of. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. spontaneity that Orfeo plays “at his owhen wille” (271). The harping not only delights. engchi. the audience but serves as the mediation for Orfeo to interact with the world by intuition and spirit. It is through the harping that Orfeo is able to establish deep connection with his steward and delight the fairy king, both of which play essential roles in the final restoration. Without doubt, the harp has always been of crucial symbolic meanings along the Orphic tradition, especially those concerned with salvation and order. Despite the fact that associated ideas of salvation may contradict each other, as we shall return in the following passage, the harp always represents the way to transcendence and eternity, by which particular attitude to the solution of loss 27.

(41) is revealed. In Orfeo‟s case, the glee of the harping is presented as a transcendental experience that sustains the temporal world, which expresses a rather affirmative attitude toward salvation in this world. That is, through the harping, Orfeo is capable of sharing spiritual harmony with this world and solaces himself in the wild. With the help of his wit and eloquence, as seen in his persuading the fairy king into releasing Heurodis (463-72; Lerer 105), he retrieves his beloved wife and recovers his kingdom as well. While wit and eloquence serve practical functions, harmony often signifies eternal truth and transcendence recognized as wisdom and profound thoughts. Wisdom. 治政 and eloquence (sapientia et eloquentia), as Friedman points大 out, had always been one 立 of the most important topoi of educational concern in the Middle Ages (101). The ‧ 國. 學. association of these features with the harper not only reflects dominant cultural values. of harmony, as evidently shown in the very beginning of the poem:. Nat. er. io. sit. y. ‧. at that time, but renders Orfeo as a skillful musician who is born with the spirituality. Orfeo mest of ani thing. n. al. Loved the gle of harping.. Ch. Siker was everi gode harpour. engchi. Of him to have miche honour. Himself he lerned for to harp And leyd theron his wittes scharp; He lerned so ther nothing was A better harpour in no plas. In al the warld was no man bore That ones Orfeo sat bifore, 28. i n U. v.

(42) And he might of his harping here, Bot he schuld thenche that he were In on of the joies of Paradis, Swiche melody in his harping is. (25-38). Through his sharp wits, Orfeo himself mastered the skill of harping and learned the art of harmony, which reveals Orfeo‟s natural disposition and also demonstrates a balance between eloquence as practical skill producing beautiful voices and wisdom as profound thoughts sustaining spiritual harmony. 17 Unlike the Augustinian dictum. 治政 which, as shown in the De Doctrina Christiana, contrasts 大 these two features by 立 valuing wisdom over eloquence (Friedman 101-02), Sir Orfeo offers a rather eclectic ‧ 國. 學. view. The integration of these two features approves the possibility of embodying and. ‧. actualizing spirituality in the transitory world. That is, through eloquence, the temporal voices of music notes could bring about spiritual harmony, which signifies, as will be. y. Nat. er. io. sit. illustrated in the following introduction of Boethian and Flugentian tradition, the eternity of transcendence. The harping emphasizes the eternity of spirituality, which. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. suggests a rather temporal eternity and opposes the fanciful image of timeless eternity. engchi. exhibited in the fairy world. The significance of the harping could be no more accentuated by such a contrast. To understand the relationship between salvation and the harping in Sir Orfeo, it is necessary to probe into the way in which temporality is. 17. As inferred from Stevenson, the contrast between eloquence and wisdom in the Middle Ages is not a definite one. Summarizing the viewpoints of the twelfth-century philosopher Adelard of Bath, Stevenson explicates two metaphysical principles in music, which are symbolized in two ladies called “Philocosmia (lover of the world)” (388) and “Philosophia (lover of wisdom, truth)” (388). While the former “stands for the pleasure in the musica practica pura of minstrels and uninstructed singers” (388), Philosophia “delights in a more intellectual music, created and understood only by true musici; this is letitia, joy” (388). Being an uninstructed minstrel who shares paradisiac joy, Orfeo appears to be the mixture of these two principles, which also explains the sensual feature of Orfeo‟s harping.. 29.

(43) associated with the transcendental experience in music, without which Orfeo can hardly maintain integrity, sustain his own sorrow, and restore his kingdom. In terms of the study of temporality in transcendental experience, there would be no more suitable model than music not only because it is a form of art most richly engaged with temporality, as already illustrated in chapter one, but also because it functions as the mediation presenting spirituality through bodily experiences in space, which corresponds to the sentient nature of reality and is thus essential in perceiving continuity of the soul, a topic that I will return in chapter three. The temporality of music could be briefly summarized by Zuckerkandl:. 立. 政治大. In the temporal component of music, then, we have to deal with a two-faced. ‧ 國. 學. force, not to say a two-minded force. So far as it is responsible for the. ‧. organization of the individual [bar], it is perpetually intent upon closing a cycle, reaching a goal; it wills the finite. On the other hand, with its renewed,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. even more insistent “On! Once again!” which hammers out [bar] after [bar], it is a striving without end that accepts no limit, a willing of the infinite. n. al. Ch. (emphasis added). (qtd. in Begbie 123). engchi. i n U. v. The willingness of the infinite created through temporal experiences best exemplifies the aesthetic of time in music, which indicates a transcendental space experienced through and within the temporal one. Hence, music occupies an important, if not fundamental, place in the understanding of theology, one of the most prominent examples could be shown in Augustine‟s De musica. In this treatise, Augustine argues for the eternity of the form as the transcendental order observed in the rhythm of music. Despite that he aims to prove God‟s existence by such an order, which seems to 30.

(44) contrast the sensual experience of Orfeo‟s harping, his philosophical insight on temporality, motions, and related mental conditions is of significant values in viewing the issue of loss and regaining order. To figure out the reason why Augustine‟s philosophy of music contributes to the reading of Sir Orfeo, the following passage examines the historical setting of medieval music theory and its interaction with the Orphic tradition. When it comes to the development of Orphic tradition and music theories, the Middle Ages is never dark, a fact which is evident by its successive era of the flourishing Renaissance.18 Both traditions attained significant popularity and at times. 治政 shared with each other the same concern in relation大 to music and transcendence. In the 立 Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius takes an ethical stand in viewing the myth, ‧ 國. 學. rendering Eurydice representative of temporalia, by which Orpheus is deterred from. ‧. unifying with the intelligent light of God and dragged back to the darkness of earthly desires (Friedman 93-95). Boethius‟ treatment of the myth shows agreement with his. y. Nat. er. io. sit. philosophy in the Fundamentals of Music, which follows the Platonic tradition in recognizing ratios in music as the unchanging truth signifying metaphysical wisdom. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. and upholding the intelligence of mind as the solution to spiritual freedom and. engchi. transcendence.19 Temporalia, as representative of the transient nature of the body and earth, is dismissed as the “heavy chains” (Friedman 92) that bond human soul to sensuality (Friedman 92). Despite the fact that the Boethian music theory suggests moral and practical concern of this world (Chamberlain 97), the earth is apparently not the place for spiritual residence. 18. Fully absorbing the intellectual nourishment from the Greco-roman philosophy, the Middle Ages in fact witnessed the birth and proliferation of music theories, see Bower, “The Transmission of Ancient Music Theory into the Middle Ages,” 136. 19. Nevertheless, Boethius‟ treatment of the myth is not necessarily limited to the Platonic tradition.. 31.

(45) The correspondence between music theories and the Orphic allegory also appears in the Fulgentian tradition.20 Fulgentius puts more emphases on the practice of music, whether in eloquence or in singing itself, other than the Platonic abstraction of knowledge.21 In Mitologiae, Orpheus is represented as “the power of words to move the listener” (Friedman 89), while Eurydice symbolizes “the more mystical harmony of tones” (Friedman 89). Eurydice is no longer denounced as the cause for degradation. In Musica Enchiriadis, she is recognized as “profound understanding” (profunda diiuidicatio; Bower 157) hidden in the underworld, from which Orpheus, as “most excellent voice” (optima vox; Bower 157), temporally enlivens her through the sound. 治政 of his song, for even the discipline of music could not get a大 whole grasp of the mystic 立 being in life (Bower 157). With no repudiation to the transience of the body and 22. ‧ 國. 學. earth, Eurydice is considered as the “higher level of being” (Bower 158) temporally. ‧. attained through the sonorous experience of music. Rather than approaching a timeless eternity through the knowledge of the intelligence of God, this perspective. y. Nat. er. io. sit. encompasses the sentient reality of life, supporting a temporal transcendence experienced within the present of time and space. Moreover, it also acknowledges the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. limit of human perception in knowing and resorts to the bodily experience of music for. engchi. spiritual epiphany, as shown in Calvin M. Bower‟s exposition that “the discipline of. 20. Also known in the 10-12th theoretical tradition of Musica Enchiriadis, see Bower 157.. 21. The major concern of Fulgentius is, nevertheless, his use of etymology. See Friedman 89.. 22. According to Stevens, the original text is as follows: Sed dum rursus per Orpheum, id est, per optimum cantilenae sonum, a secretis suis ac si ab inferis evocatur, imaginarie perducitur usque in auras huius vitae, dumque videri videtur, amittitur. Scilicet quia inter caetera, quae adhuc ex parte et in aenigmate cerrnimus, haec etiam disciplina haud ad plenum habet rationem in hac vita penetrabilem. Stevens also translates the text as follows: But whilst it [the true understanding of music] is being summoned from its secret places, as if from the underworld by Orpheus,—that is, by „the best sound of song‟—and being brought in mental images up into the clear air of this present life and at that moment seems to be seen [for what it is], it is lost. This is evidently because, amongst other things which in the present we see only in part and darkly, this knowledge too has a basis to which in this life our minds can hardly penetrate to the full. (397). 32.