The Panther (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Rainer Maria Rilke
- First Published: 1907
- Type of Work: Meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Captivity, Animals, Animals, dangerous, Zoos, Motion, Vision, Panthers
The Poem
“The Panther” is a brief poem of twelve lines divided into three quatrains, each following the rhyme scheme abab. The title indicates the object of the poet’s meditations.
From 1905 to 1906, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke worked as secretary to the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. After studying a small bronze of a tiger sculpted by Rodin, Rilke visited the Jardin des Plantes in Paris to observe a captive panther. Conventionally, a panther suggests feral violence; however, the poem overturns such expectations. The reader’s experience of the...
[The entire page is 1019 words long]
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