Book 1, The Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke : Chapter 2, New Poems Summary

The selections from New Poems are much more extensive than those of the preceding chapters. This is an amazing body of work. These poems were published in 1907 & 1908. The first of these, include short poems only.

The changes that take place as an effect of translation will not be emphasized. Here, readers are to understand that the English form is dominant. At the same time, this is recognized as a bit of a fiction - an illusion created by the summary writer's and the English readers' limitations. There are 3 poems about individual animal species. There is the panther - the poem writes of a restless captive, a powerful yet caged feline. The animal's motion is most notable. There is expressed pain about how the...