Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

The poem "Narcissus" by Rainer Maria Rilke addresses the mythological tale of Narcissus, a figure who falls in love with his own reflection. The poem is an exploration of self-absorption, not just as a human trait but as a metaphysical reality affecting nature and existence at large.

The poem opens with a vivid image: Narcissus is "encircled by her arms as by a shell." This immediately blurs gender lines and references the idea of the maternal-capturing Narcissus in a kind of embryonic state of self-love. In doing so, the "she" becomes a shell that both confines and nurtures, capturing the essence of Narcissus' predicament. He can hear his "being murmur," suggesting that his self-involvement has become a soft, consistent noise in his existence, inescapable and ever-present.

The phrase "forever he endures the outrage of his too pure image" hints at the torment and limit of self-absorption. The adjective "too pure" amplifies this, suggesting an imbalance. There's a sense of stasis here-of being stuck in an endless loop of self-reflection and self-love, which eventually turns into a form of outrage, perhaps at the inability to escape one's own gaze.

The second stanza widens the lens to nature, a "wistful" participant that "re-enters herself." Nature, in emulating Narcissus, begins to internalize its own essence, causing a flower to "become too soft" and a "boulder" to harden. The dual outcomes underscore the imbalance created by excessive self-absorption: a flower losing its form and a boulder becoming more rigid. This metaphor elegantly encapsulates the dangers of such an inward focus-either one becomes too malleable, losing all form and structure, or one becomes too rigid, inflexible, and hard.

The third stanza addresses the cyclical nature of desire. The "return of all desire" hints at a fundamental, almost gravitational pull toward a sense of unity or self-containment. This desire "embraces itself from afar," indicating a longing to reunite with a center, perhaps a more balanced state. But the stanza ends with a question: "Where does it fall?" The longing, though cyclical, doesn't guarantee a harmonious ending.

The final question, "does it hope to renew a center?", posits whether this endless cycle of self-absorption and self-exploration can ever lead to renewal or balance. It is left unanswered, thereby underlining the uncertain existential condition that both Narcissus and humanity at large must grapple with.

"Narcissus" becomes, in Rilke's treatment, not merely a tale of one man's hubris but a complex allegory for the dangers of introspection taken to an extreme. It questions whether the very structure of desire and self-focus can ever lead to a balanced existence. In his characteristic way, Rilke doesn't offer answers, but instead leaves us with an exquisite tension that encapsulates the human condition.

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