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Articles

Rilke’s God

Peter Rickman on a poet’s metaphors and the creation of the world.

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) addresses and refers to God in a great variety of ways, expressed in a multitude of sometimes conflicting metaphors. By relating these to his idea of the role of the poet I hope to throw light on his whole philosophy.

Brought up in a Christian environment, Rilke referred to God and leading biblical figures in a fairly orthodox way. He wrote a volume on the life of Mary, a poem representing the Annunciation and a description of the night in which Jesus doubted. It is different in his Book of Hours.

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