Orpheus and the Shades: The Myth of the Poet in David Copperfield

MATTHIAS BAUER Orpheus and the Shades: The Myth of the Poet in David Copperfield In his Sonnets to Orpheus, Rilke interpre~s the myth of the singer's descent to the nether world as an image of the poet who must experience death: Only by him with whose lays shades were enraptured may the celestial praise faintly be captured. Only who tasted their own flower with the sleeping holds the most fugitive tone ever in keeping.I In The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the novel on which Dickens was working until his death, the central motifs of Rilke's lines can be discovered: John Jasper, the protagonist of the story, is a musician, a singer who is regarded as an author. He 'captures' the celestial praise in the cathedral but he also tastes of the 'flower' and is haunted by the shadows of his opium dreams. Furthermore, he descends to the region of death, a journey most strikingly visualized in chapter 12, when he accompanies the deathlike stonemason, Mr Durdles, to the crypt, his nightly abode.2 Jasper, who lives in a 'gatehouse,' is a mysterious border-crosser passing through the doors opened for him by Durdles. Rilke's poem may help us discern the Orpheus theme in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. But, once the significance of this myth for Dickens has been recognized, the question arises whether it may not also help us come to terms with one of the alleged faults of the only novel in which Dickens tells the life story of a professional writer. Criticism has taken exception to the fact that Dickens, in David Copperfield, presents the autobiography of a man who becomes a novelist and yet never discusses the art of novel-writing.3 I will suggest, however, that Dickens, rather than discussing the literary craft in the abstract, has woven a prominent strand of artistic reflection into the fabric of David's 'life.' In particular, the archetypal myth of the poet lends its colour to this thread. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 63, NUMBER 2, WINTER 1993/4 ORPHEUS AND 'DAVID COPPERFIELD I 309 The examples from Edwin Drood indicate that Dickens did not choose to retell the mythical story (which would probably have become a burlesque under his hands)4 but rather to revitalize it by making its archetypal traits visible under the surface of realistic description. These traits are, in the main, the descent into the underworlds and the idea of the poet as a man living near a border, which he oversteps in both directions. Both elements are present in David Copperfield. David's catabasis and mythical role-playing will be my first topic here, leading up to the function of music in his attempts to recover several Eurydice figures, and to the typological connections between Orpheus, David, and Christ. Tertium comparationis is the redeeming function of poetry in the form of commemorative narration. This will bring into view the relation between David's life journey and the narrative act itself; David's crossing the border between life and death can be seen as analogous to the interplay between fiction and reality, 'life' and 'life,' which is pointed out in the very first sentences of the noveV' I When David has returned to London to become a proctor, he compares his new existence with the time when he was sent to London by Mr Murdstone in order to 'begin the world on [his] own account' (10.131):7 when the coach was gone, I turned my face to the Adelphi, pondering on the old days when I used to roam about its subterranean arches, and on the happy changes which had brought me to the surface. (23.303) David describes the change in his life in terms of a vertical movement: the 'subterranean arches' of old are set against 'the surface.' This vertical line may be prolonged even further, since David's apartment in the Adelphi is located Ion top of the house' (302). In retrospect, David's comment gives particular weight to an earlier passage, where the Adelphi is presented as a stage that includes what is called Ihell' in theatricallanguage:B I was fond of wandering about...