Spring Is Almost Here!

Dear Members, Alumni, and Friends of the JSMT:

Spring is (almost) here (we hope)! The peoples of the ancient world looked forward to the arrival of springtime just as much as we do in our technological age. Here are excerpts from our March 2007 newsletter on this very topic for you to enjoy as we eagerly await the arrival of the Vernal Equinox on March 20^th! :)

Snowdaze: The Great Blizzard of 2007

Photo Credit: Dr. Kim Wangen (ACES James Scholar Class of 2009 & College of Vet Med Class of 2013), JSMT President Emerita (2007)

On February 13 and 14, 2007, the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2007 dumped over a foot of snow on the Urbana-Champaign campus, and the University of Illinois cancelled classes for the first time since 1979. Subzero wind chills, blowing snow, and ginormous snowdrifts made the two “grownup snow days” memorable for the University of Illinois community. This photo shows the aftermath of the snowstorm on the parking lot at the Illinois Street Residence Halls in Urbana.

Celebrating Springtime with Orphic Poetry

By Rob Chappell, Cursus Honorum’s Editor

The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their prescientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

Here is an example of Orphic poetry to welcome in the springtime – a poem to the seasons (here personified as the daughters of Zeus/Jupiter):

Orphic Hymn #42: “To the Seasons”

(Translated by Thomas Taylor, 1792)

Daughters of Jove and Themis, Seasons bright,

Justice, and blessed peace, and lawful right,

Vernal and grassy, vivid, holy powers,

Whose balmy breath exhales in lovely flowers;

All-colored Seasons, rich increase your care,

Circling forever, flourishing and fair:

Invested with a veil of shining dew,

A flowery veil delightful to the view:

Attending Proserpine, when back from night,

The Fates and Graces lead her up to light;

When in a band harmonious they advance,

And joyful round her form the solemn dance:

With Ceres triumphing, and Jove divine,

Propitious come, and on our incense shine;

Give Earth a blameless store of fruits to bear,

And make a novel mystic’s life your care.

The Young Orpheus by British artist Henry Ryland (1856-1924) shows the legendary Greek bard enchanting the woodland creatures with his mystical melodies. (Image Credit: Public Domain)

“Orpheus” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Orpheus with his lute made trees

And the mountain tops that freeze

Bow themselves when he did sing:

To his music plants and flowers

Ever sprung; as Sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Everything that heard him play,

Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads and then lay by.

In sweet music is such art,

Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

Further Reading

·        The extant collection of 86 Orphic Hymns is archived @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/index.htm.

·        The Middle English poem Sir Orfeo – a Keltified retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus – is available (with annotations) @ http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/orfeo.htm.

·        The Derveni Papyrus (composed in Greek during the 4th century BCE and discovered in 1962) contains an Orphic poem and an esoteric commentary based on Orphic philosophy (see http://www.crystalinks.com/derveni_papyrus.html).

Until next time –

Rob :)