Laodamia (Wordsworth)

This article is about a poem. For other uses, see Laodamia (disambiguation).

Laodamia (1815, 1845) is a narrative poem by William Wordsworth based on a story from the Trojan War.

Description

Wordsworth's "Laodamia", published in 1815, is a narrative poem in stanzas dealing with the classical story of Protesilaus, a Greek hero who sacrificed himself in fulfilment of the oracle which declared that victory should be the lot of that party from which should fall the first victim in the Trojan War. According to the legend, as narrated by Wordsworth, Laodamia, the wife of Protesilaus, prays to the gods that her husband may return to her from Hades. He does so and relates the story of his death at the hands of Hector, rebuking the excessive passion of his wife, who cannot bring herself to consent to his return to the shades of death. Summoned by Hermes the spectre departs, leaving Laodamia a lifeless corpse upon the palace floor. The poem closes with a description of the trees which grew from the tomb of each and withered at the top when they had attained such a height that they commanded a view of the walls of Troy.^[1]

Interpretation

The underlying idea of the poem is the weakness of the soul exemplified in Laodamia, whose uncontrolled love makes her incapable of lifting her heart to a "higher object" and accepting her husband's sacrifice and fate. Both the motive of the piece and its classical atmosphere reflect the change in point of view which Wordsworth experienced in his maturer years. (See "Ode to Duty".) Its beauty of style and calm nobility of tone make it one of Wordsworth's unquestionable masterpieces. The poem bears traces of the influence of Virgil, whom the poet was rereading at the time.^[1]

Versions

In an earlier version Laodamia is more pitied than condemned. Later the ethics of the poem seemed to require her punishment. The present ending, adopted in 1845, is a kind of compromise.^[1]

Notes

1 2 3 Hanford 1920.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hanford, James H. (1920). "Laodamia". In Rines, George Edwin. Encyclopedia Americana.

William Wordsworth

Topics	Early life Lake Poets

People	Samuel Taylor Coleridge Robert Southey Dora Wordsworth (daughter) Dorothy Wordsworth (sister)

Lyrical Ballads	Preface to the Lyrical Ballads "Anecdote for Fathers" "Lucy Gray" The Lucy poems "She dwelt among the untrodden ways" "A slumber did my spirit seal" "Strange fits of passion have I known" "Three years she grew in sun and shower" The Matthew poems "Michael, a Pastoral" "Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey" "We Are Seven"

Later poetry	Poems, in Two Volumes Peter Bell The White Doe of Rylstone "Composed upon Westminster Bridge" "Elegiac Stanzas" "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" The Lucy poems "I travelled among unknown men" "London, 1802" "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" "Resolution and Independence" "The Solitary Reaper" "The World Is Too Much with Us" "Character of the Happy Warrior"

The Recluse	The Excursion The Prelude

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