Abstract

It is not the vogue in contemporary criticism to argue that a particular work marks the culmination of a tradition, but that is exactly what Robert Henryson's Orpheus and Eurydice does for the dual mediaeval traditions of the Orpheus myth. That critics have tended to ignore the poem is unfortunate, for it tells us a great deal about the agglomerative poetic methods of a mediaeval poet, underlines the two distinct mediaeval approaches to classical fables, and emphasizes the depth of allusion which a mention of Orpheus generated for an intelligent, moderately-educated mediaeval reader. jQuery.click { event.preventDefault(); })