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 tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
~Now my Essay about this poem. Please leave me a comment telling me what you think about the poem and if you agree or disagree with anything in my essay. Thanks! ~T
In Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, The Panther, her imagery about a panther stalking his cage is very evident. Her imagery is clear and concise through the first two stanzas of the three stanza poem. In the third stanza, however, the tone of the poem changes slightly and is hard to understand.
In the first stanza of The Panther, Rilke’s description of a male passing bars and becoming weary and separated from the world is very easy to understand. I enjoyed how she turned the bars into thousands, creating the image of unending imprisonment. This really starts out the poem with the intense image of a caged animal that has given up on freedom.
In the second stanza of The Panther, Rilke builds an image of the panther stalking in circles. This stalking is compared to a ritual dance that is there to contain the panther’s will, “paralyzed”. This image is powerful in communicating how the panther is containing itself in the form of constant movement.
In the third stanza the tone of The Panther changes from the previous two. Rainer Maria Rilke states, “Only at times, the curtain of the pupils / Lifts, quietly--, An image enters in, / Rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, / Plunges into the heart and is gone” (Gioia 89). I do not understand what this stanza implies, other than that the panther somehow receives some burst of freedom in his mind and it gives his heart some joy for a moment. She talks about pupils but hasn’t spoken of the panther’s eyes before, which I’m assuming she is referring to now. If I could talk to Rainer Maria Rilke, I would ask her, why did you suddenly focus on the panther’s eyes? What image was this that leapt into the panther’s heart? It is quite frustrating to understand the beginning of the poem but not the end. Usually the end is what has the most important message.
