Duino Elegies- Life or Death

A detailed Summary of Duino Elegies- Life or Death

If someone could point out a specific meaning in Duino Elegies what would it tell us? If someone say without a doubt what Duino Elegies is about, what would they say? They might say life, they might say death, or they might say neither. In either case they would probably be right, for Duino Elegies touches upon not only life and death but many others things having to do with human existence such as love, change, loss, and pain. It searches not only for the meaning of life, that would be trivial in comparison, but it searches also for the meaning of death, love, nature, and in a sense creation in itself.

A book of poetry spanning the length of ten years Duino Elegies is considered by many to be a masterpiece. Rilke began Duino Elegies at Duino castle in 1912. It was here that he heard those unforgettable opening line to his first elegy,

among the angelic orders?(Duino Elegies)

and it was in Muzot, Switzerland that he finally finished the tenth elegy some ten years later in 1922. Rilke spent a good deal of his life writing this poetry and it is reflected in the poetry itself, as he examines both his own life and the

celebrated, a limitation that in the end excludes all infinity.

I believe that Rilke is trying to tell us to have no false expectations of immortality but rather that we must accept and try to understand death, else how different are from animals? There are those that seem unaware of death as if they were merely an animal living for the moment, there are those that are aware of death and live life to the fullest, there are those that are aware of death and seem to worship it, and lastly there are the dead who according to the seventh elegy seem to seek out and long for the living earthly existence. He at times mockingly expresses how death will come and resolve difficulties, making all satisfactory.

Transience everywhere plunges into a deep being. (Duino Elegies)

Some common words found in the essay are:
Duino Elegies, Muzot Switzerland, Elegies Duino, Elegies Rilke, duino elegies, life death, , living dead, elegy rilke, aware death, rilke trying, searches meaning,

Approximate Word count = 797
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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Duino Elegies- Life or Death

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