Verre de Venise

Notes

The collection of poems chosen for this cycle all attend to this proximity to nature and often incorporate or allude to ethereal images such as angels or heaven. Rilke creates vastness- paradoxically evoking a sense of spaciousness within exceptionally miniature forms. The open-ended, fragmentary nature of his writing, allows the text to float as if suspended, providing only momentary feelings of completeness. It has been said that for Rilke, the poem records at best “a fleeting instant when the work of art and life are mutually realised”. (‘Uncertain Poetries: Selected essays’, 2005, M. Heller)