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Eurydice

Literary Character
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The beloved woman whom Orpheus attempts to retrieve from the underworld.

Detailed Definition
Eurydice appears in classical poetry as the dead wife whose loss inspires Orpheus to descend among the shades. Her story is told by Virgil and Ovid and has been continually reimagined by later poets, who often make her more than a silent object of rescue. The fatal backward glance turns love into a test of trust, memory, and artistic power. Eurydice can symbolize lost language, inaccessible knowledge, or the beloved erased by the speaker’s gaze.
Example
Example in poetry:
In the myth retold by Ovid, Eurydice dies and Orpheus loses her again when he looks back before they leave the underworld; A poet may invoke Eurydice to represent the fragile return of a lost person, memory, or creative work; A poem from Eurydice's perspective can question whether love gives her a voice or makes her an object of rescue; Eurydice often symbolizes the irretrievability of the dead and the danger of doubting hope
Additional Notes
Eurydice is best known from the myth of Orpheus, who wins permission to lead her out of the underworld on the condition that he not look back. When he turns too soon, she is lost again. She can symbolize fragile hope, the irreversibility of death, or the limits of human trust. Poems about Eurydice often retell the myth from her perspective, challenging the traditional focus on Orpheus.
Other Meanings of “Eurydice”
Also Known As
Eurydike
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