The mastery of Rainer Maria Rilke

"For there are moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, and everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent." Rainer Maria Rilke said this to a 'young poet' in his eighth letter of Letters to a Young Poet. The irony and genius behind this statement, is that most young poets feel this way when they read their first translated version of Duino Elegies by Rilke.

In the series of ten elegies that Rilke wrote in Castle Duino, he explored something unknown and extremely perplex: "to sing/ to the secret and wicked river-god of our blood!" To be completely honest, though it may hurt my scholarly pride, I cannot say I completely understand what the elegies are about, what they mean as a cohesive whole. This, however, is the magic of the elegies. The mystery of how they are strung together keeps me coming back over and over to revisit the elegies.

I have yet to find a poem that makes me question the finite abilities within humanity the elegies do, "In the fullest flower we know our withering;/ yet somewhere still the lions walk and in/ their proud prime know themselves invincible." The philosophical journey of the elegies is one that every writer should take; what is the purpose of humanity, why are humans the only animal who can reason and relate all the while being fully aware of death? These ideas are only brought to life through images and musical prosody in Duino Elegies, which makes Rilke's poetry beyond brilliant.