R. M Rilke's sonnets to Orpheus: an interpretative approach.

PDF (ελληνικά)
Published: Jan 31, 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/comparison.10769
Marios-Byron Raizis
Abstract
The collection Sonette an Orpheus, by Rainer Maria Rilke (1923), is discussed and interpreted as having two functions. First, it constitutes an elegiac composition honoring the memory of a prematurely deceased young lady, and second -and most important- it obliquely suggests and illustrates his personal poetics. His sonnets A-l, B-5, B-6, B-28 and the last one B-29, are presented in a precise rhyming translation into Greek, and their individual symbolic or structural features (e.g., tree, woods, hearing, ear, melody, rose, anemone etc.) are explained as personal signs signifying beauty, transience, vulnerability, emotion, inspiration, creativity etc. which constitute the main themes and artistic concerns of a mature and almost existential Rilke, intimating how he functions as a poet.
Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.