A portrait of poet Rainer Marie Rilke (1875-1926) painted two years after his death by Leonid Pasternak
Ekphrastic poetry is the tantalizing intersection of the art of poetry and the visual arts. HERE‘s an example of one mine that draws on both art and a traditional Chinese Buddhist allegory.
The poem featured below is by Rainer Marie Rilke (1875-1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. I am particularly enamoured of it.
There are many stunning features to Archaic Torso of Apollo. It’s certainly meditative and almost prayerful and yet if it is a prayer it is oddly delivered to a dead and broken god. The poem suggests wholeness even though the statue is fragmented. Perhaps most striking, we are somewhat surprised by the turn the Rilke takes in the end.
You will note also that this poem is not simple physical observation. It recognizes something that is part of our history, our culture and mythology, and yet somehow is not earthbound. It points to the ethical and ineffable.
Archaic Torso of Apollo
We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,
gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.
Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:
would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
– Rainer Marie Rilke
The photograph of the Rilke portrait is in the public domain.
WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT
This week pick one of your favorite works of art to write about. Take your time and enjoy the exercise. If you feel comfortable, share your poem or a link to it in the comments section below. All work shared on theme will be published here next Tuesday.
the characters for the most part
get themselves into such a muddle
usually intent on mirroring
the messes & muddles of others
closely observed by scheming clowns
with special peculiar insights
how will they get out of the muddle?
a question which keeps you entranced
turning the pages rapidly
never really wanting an unravelling
no linearity just sets of closed circles
of rather bizarre impossibility
occasionally a character will experience
a bright moment of illumination
or clarity which I have come to call
the specificity of the ordinary:
the cat on the terrace dust particles
lizard on a sunny bank
bare gritty floorboards leaves in the wind
ivy climbing on a rock as it might be
to refer it all to myself measuring
the impact of the ordinary
if only the characters had listened
to their author’s commentary
more carefully they might all have been
able to rescue themselves
he grips the tablets in his charge, this
courier of commandmenta, and takes umbrage or looks
askance at some person or
persons on
his left. on his head
are zigguratish lumps,
horns, that should have been
unsculptable rays of
light. julius the pope, the vicar
of christ, has left
his mortal remains entombed
here, and moses to guard
them. the likeness
of julius was to be
the capstone of the tomb
but it was never
done. the militant pope
had need of his hireling
visionary elsewhere,
as plasterer and muralist
for a now-renowned chapel.
the tomb was finished in 1545,
decades after julius’s promotion
to resident of Heaven.
by 
The translation is by Stephen Mitchell and is the best I’ve read. Find the poem in Mitchell’s translation of The Selected Poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 
Like your poem for this prompt and I am not sure mine constitutes an ekphrastic poem as I don’t believe I have done one before but you can see my poem at https://reneejustturtleflight.com/2017/10/01/a-life-betrayed. Thank You!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries. 🙂 I’m sure it’s beautiful. This isn’t a test. I’ll visit tomorrow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Jamie.One response….
..the flight to egypt..
Edwin Longsden Long RA was an English genre, history, and portrait painter.
**
there are many pictures at this house, two dimensional and more. how can I love one
child above another?
I had only one, so that was easy, then questioned if I loved the late arrival more, I said no just different.
so I talk out loud instead of writing .
a new prose. I talk of formative years, the safe place.
russell coates museum. have you been there? it was free on thursdays a haven from the rain,
the
pain.
indoor fish pond, quiet on the stairs, to the edwin long gallery. the flight to egypt. looking
back now, I never thought of it religious. immense it covered the wall.
I use the past tense, yet it is still in place.
on googling I see the topic is biblical, I remember the procession, the faces, the space as
if his meaning was hidden to me.
now by choice it is.
do I make such pictures? no.
weird stuff as if installed in a museum.
crying.
sbm.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of my favorite poems and translators! Why do I never heed its exhortation? Agh. Thanks though, Jamie. K.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
in Iris Murdoch
the characters for the most part
get themselves into such a muddle
usually intent on mirroring
the messes & muddles of others
closely observed by scheming clowns
with special peculiar insights
how will they get out of the muddle?
a question which keeps you entranced
turning the pages rapidly
never really wanting an unravelling
no linearity just sets of closed circles
of rather bizarre impossibility
occasionally a character will experience
a bright moment of illumination
or clarity which I have come to call
the specificity of the ordinary:
the cat on the terrace dust particles
lizard on a sunny bank
bare gritty floorboards leaves in the wind
ivy climbing on a rock as it might be
to refer it all to myself measuring
the impact of the ordinary
if only the characters had listened
to their author’s commentary
more carefully they might all have been
able to rescue themselves
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Am a fan of Murdock too.
LikeLike
Currently re-reading all 26 novels and writing about them! On ‘Henry & Cato’ now. Unputdownable!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Colin, that sounds like fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
the moses manifest
he grips the tablets in his charge, this
courier of commandmenta, and takes umbrage or looks
askance at some person or
persons on
his left. on his head
are zigguratish lumps,
horns, that should have been
unsculptable rays of
light. julius the pope, the vicar
of christ, has left
his mortal remains entombed
here, and moses to guard
them. the likeness
of julius was to be
the capstone of the tomb
but it was never
done. the militant pope
had need of his hireling
visionary elsewhere,
as plasterer and muralist
for a now-renowned chapel.
the tomb was finished in 1545,
decades after julius’s promotion
to resident of Heaven.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice to see you here, Gary. 👏👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jamie – cheating a bit… The ‘favourite work of art’ is a drawing of my own! It’ll come to your email address!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s okay to use your own work. 😊
LikeLike
Hi Jamie,
Here are my Ekphrastic poetry links.
Haywain
http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/haywain-by-paul-brookes
My Dali
http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/my-dali-by-paul-brookes
The Elephant
http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/the-elephant-by-paul-brookes
These Shapes
http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/these-shapes-by-paul-brookes
Rothko Meant Nothing
http://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/rothko-meant-nothing-by-paul-brookes
LikeLiked by 2 people
And your post goes up tomorrow, Paul.
LikeLiked by 1 person