The Panther (poem)
The Panther ( subtitle: the Jardin des Plantes, Paris) is a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke on November 6, 1902 It describes a captured Panther behind bars as they were at the Paris Jardin des Plantes. .
Content
The poem consists of three stanzas, each containing four verses with alternating feminine and masculine cadence:
His gaze is from the passing-by of the rods become so tired that he holds nothing more. He feels as if there were a thousand bars and behind a thousand bars no world. The powerful paddings steps rotates in cramped circles, is like a ritual dance around a center, in a mighty will stands stunned. Only sometimes pushes the curtain of the pupils silently on -. An image enters in, down through the limbs ' intensive stillness - and listens to the heart to be.
Comment
The Panther is considered the most famous thing Rilke poem in which the poet speaker of the " dumb things " is. The Panther is in three stanzas of his appearance ( look, gait, eye) described in order to open up his heart.
The deprivation of liberty is expressed in the first stanza by the slow rhythm. The second stanza shows the inner captivity of the Panthers. The panther has lost its natural character. He is selbstentfremdet. The third verse confirms the outer and inner captivity of the Panthers.
There are also other interpretations. The second verse shows: The will of the Panthers is stunned, but could not be broken. The image of the captivity, the environment behind bars, he can not enter his heart of hearts, as it means torture for him. He lives his life to the captivity traumatized, with unrecognized individual beings. The Captured Panther is not a "thing " or " piece", but a tortured, suffering animal with confidence.
A motivational same poem titled Tiger was by Alfred Wolfenstein. It reads:
The large sun shines in his cell And pulls on his colorful striped skins Still other lines: black bars shadow.
The Panther in Scripture about Rodin from 1903
In Rilke's essay on Auguste Rodin says, " There is in Rodin's studio to the casting of a barely half-size Panthers Greek work ( the original is in the medal cabinet of the Paris National Library); when going through from the front looks under his body in the space that is formed by the four geschmeidigstarken paws, can you believe, to see into the depths of an Indian rock temple, as this work grows and expands to the size of its dimensions. "
Others
- The German composer Karl Marx set to music the Panthers as an art song.
- In the movie Awakenings 1990 this Rilke poem plays a role in a key scene.
- In Woody Allen's Another Woman the poem is quoted as a metaphor for the spiritual life of the main character.
- 2001 Otto Sander recited the poem for the Rilke project.
- The Panther is quoted in a homonymous song by Chaoze One.
- The Hamburg Skapunk band Rintindumb dubbed The panther on her 1998 album topper.
- The musician Udo Lindenberg set to music the poem The Panther in the same song in the album The Exzessor in 2000.
- In the book the blind birds by Ursula Poznanski (2013 ), the poem The Panther plays a crucial role in the treated murder series.