The Panther -- Rainer Maria Rilke

(Poem #136) The Panther His vision, from the constantly passing bars, has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to him there are a thousand bars, and behind the bars, no world. As he paces in cramped circles, over and over, the movement of his powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a center in which a mighty will stands paralyzed. Only at times, the curtain of the pupils lifts, quietly. An image enters in, rushes down through the tense, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone. -- Rainer Maria Rilke

translated by Steven Mitchell.

I haven't read much of Rilke, but the little I have read always strikes
me by its quality of - how shall I put it? - 'muscular delicacy', I
suppose. There's a lean grace about his words, an efficiency of
expression which comes through even in translation. Certainly there's
beauty in his writing, but it's not an ornate beauty, nor even a
particularly striking one; rather, it's a beauty of minimalism and
feeling (yes, feeling) stripped down to the bare bones... "every word
chosen smooth and well-fitting", to paraphrase Pound.

I chose today's poem because the image of the panther seems to be embody
many of the prosodic qualities of Rilke's own work (though not
necessarily his themes). (Yup, it's that old form versus content thing
again. One of these days I have to get down to writing a proper essay on
the subject :-)). There's the same sense of barely restrained tautness,
of supple strength matched with unhurried elegance...

Another thing I like about this poem is the sudden shift in its pace; in
the first  two stanzas, the words seem, if not quite languid, then at
least deliberate in their slow grace. But in the third stanza the vision
alters [1], suddenly blurring into sheer speed. You've heard of big cats
as 'poetry in motion'; here, Rilke captures their motion in his poetry.

thomas.

[1] "Suddenly, the vision alters
The music fades, the rhythm falters"
:-)

[Biography]

Geboren am 4.12.1875 in Prag. Rilke war der Sohn eines Militärbeamten
und Beamten bei der Eisenbahn. Besuchte die Militärschule St. Pölten
1886 bis 1891 und danach die Militär-Oberrealschule in
Mährisch-Weißkirchen. Der sensible Knabe wich der Offizierslaufbahn aus,
bereitete sich privat auf das Abitur vor und studierte Kunst- und
Literaturgeschichte in Prag, München und Berlin. 1897 Begegnung mit Lou
Andreas-Salomé, mit der er 1899/1900 nach Rußland reiste. Das Land, die
Menschen, vor allem die »russische Seele« beeindruckten ihn sehr.
Begegnung mit Tolstoi. 1900 ließ er sich in der Malerkolonie Worpswede
nieder und heiratete die Bildhauerin Clara Westhoff, von der er sich
1902 wieder trennte. 1905 wurde er für acht Monate der Privatsekretär
von Rodin in Paris. Reisen nach Nordafrika, Ägypten, Spanien. 1911/12
lebte er auf Schloß Duino an der Adria bei der Fürstin Marie v. Thurn u.
Taxis. Im 1. Weltkrieg in München; kurze Zeit beim österreichischen
Landsturm; aus Gesundheitsgründen entlassen. Nach Kriegsende in der
Schweiz: 1920 in Berg am Irschel, seit 1921 auf Schloß Muzot im Kanton
Wallis, das ihm sein Mäzen Werner Reinhart zur Verfügung gestellt hatte.
Er starb am 29.12.1926 im Sanatorium Val-Mont bei Montreux an Leukämie.