he played, and the bodiless hordes of dead did weep
Showtime's The Tudors has reminded me of Ovid. (Although I'm quoting Heaney because I don't own a good translation of Metamorphoses...yet.*)
The sun passed through the house
Of Pisces three times then, and Orpheus
Withdrew and turned away from loving women -
Perhaps because there only could be one
Eurydice, or because the shock of loss
Had changed his very nature. Nonetheless,
Many women loved him and, denied
Or not, adored. But now the only bride
For Orpheus was going to be a boy
And Thracians learned from him, who still enjoy
Plucking those spring flowers bright and early.
-- Seamus Heaney, excerpt from "Orpheus and Eurydice"
Just switch the genders and, hey, presto! In any case, it's a kinder interpretation of Tallis falling into the arms of Joan than the alternative:
Henry: “Sickness is a visitation from God and a punishment for sin.”
The moralising, coming from him, is a bit ironic.
So, okay. I am totally going to write Thomas Tallis after-the-plague fic and call it "Songs of Orpheus."
Keeping in mind that I haven't actually seen episode 1.07 yet. (I wouldn't be this calm and collected if I had - I would probably be shaking and in sore need of a stiff drink, like I was after Sirius' death.)
I want to see Compton's friends falling apart after his death - not from grief, but because in many ways he was the voice of mediation and reconciliation between them: making jokes to lighten the mood when Knivert's rivalry with Henry became dangerous, sympathising with Knivert when Brandon was made Duke, acting as the go-between when Brandon and Henry were at odds. (A real Remus Lupin, ain't he? Even to the point of his "secret.")
We called them "Henry and his Brat Pack" at the start, but almost despite its own flippancy, the script (with a lot of help from the actors) has over the episodes revealed some level of complexity beneath the friendship dynamics. Without Compton, the fractures between them will only grow deeper, more resentful - and potentially fatal, for some.
~
*ETA: (15/5/07) I have my newly acquired Charles Martin translation of the Metamorphoses in my hands! It's soooo pretty. Blood-red cover, off-set by white and black. *purrs*
Here is the same section of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in his translation:
Three times the Sun had finished out the year
in Pisces of the waters. Orpheus
had fled completely from the love of women,
either because it hadn't worked for him
or else because the pledge that he had give
to his Eurydice was permanent;
no matter: women burned to have the bard,
and many suffered greatly from rejection.
Among the Thracians, he originated
the practice of transferring the affections
to youthful males, plucking the first flower
in the brief springtime of their early manhood.
The sun passed through the house
Of Pisces three times then, and Orpheus
Withdrew and turned away from loving women -
Perhaps because there only could be one
Eurydice, or because the shock of loss
Had changed his very nature. Nonetheless,
Many women loved him and, denied
Or not, adored. But now the only bride
For Orpheus was going to be a boy
And Thracians learned from him, who still enjoy
Plucking those spring flowers bright and early.
-- Seamus Heaney, excerpt from "Orpheus and Eurydice"
Just switch the genders and, hey, presto! In any case, it's a kinder interpretation of Tallis falling into the arms of Joan than the alternative:
Henry: “Sickness is a visitation from God and a punishment for sin.”
The moralising, coming from him, is a bit ironic.
So, okay. I am totally going to write Thomas Tallis after-the-plague fic and call it "Songs of Orpheus."
Keeping in mind that I haven't actually seen episode 1.07 yet. (I wouldn't be this calm and collected if I had - I would probably be shaking and in sore need of a stiff drink, like I was after Sirius' death.)
I want to see Compton's friends falling apart after his death - not from grief, but because in many ways he was the voice of mediation and reconciliation between them: making jokes to lighten the mood when Knivert's rivalry with Henry became dangerous, sympathising with Knivert when Brandon was made Duke, acting as the go-between when Brandon and Henry were at odds. (A real Remus Lupin, ain't he? Even to the point of his "secret.")
We called them "Henry and his Brat Pack" at the start, but almost despite its own flippancy, the script (with a lot of help from the actors) has over the episodes revealed some level of complexity beneath the friendship dynamics. Without Compton, the fractures between them will only grow deeper, more resentful - and potentially fatal, for some.
~
*ETA: (15/5/07) I have my newly acquired Charles Martin translation of the Metamorphoses in my hands! It's soooo pretty. Blood-red cover, off-set by white and black. *purrs*
Here is the same section of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in his translation:
Three times the Sun had finished out the year
in Pisces of the waters. Orpheus
had fled completely from the love of women,
either because it hadn't worked for him
or else because the pledge that he had give
to his Eurydice was permanent;
no matter: women burned to have the bard,
and many suffered greatly from rejection.
Among the Thracians, he originated
the practice of transferring the affections
to youthful males, plucking the first flower
in the brief springtime of their early manhood.