Epithalamion (poem) was charmed by Orpheus, and allowed Eurydice to travel back up to Earth under one condition: Orpheus must walk in front of Eurydice and not look back at her the entire trip. Anxiety got the best of Orpheus, and right when they reached Earth he looked back, forgetting that they both needed to be in the upper world and that Eurydice was not in it. Eurydice was lost a second time forever. Spenser uses the myth to insist he would do anything for his bride. Even travel to the underworld. Spenser states his love will echo for all to hear,
The Wife of His Youth "The Wife of His Youth" follows Mr. Ryder, a bi-racial man who was born and reared free before the Civil War. He heads the "Blue Veins Society", a social organization for colored people in a northern town; the membership consists of people with a high proportion of European ancestry, who look more white than black. The organization's name stemmed from the joke that one would have to be so white (to be a member) that veins could be seen through the skin. Ryder is sought after by the town's women but begins courting a very light mixed-race woman from Washington,