Rainer Maria Rilke
Archaic Torso Of Apollo - Poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
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.
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Read poems about / on: change, star, power, smile, dark, life, running
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Archaic Torso of Apollo
We cannot know his legendary head
wherein eye-apples ripened. Even so
his torso's lasting candelabra-glow,
in which his gaze, with light held back, instead
holds fast and shines. Else scarcely would the curve
of chest bedazzle you, soft gasped meanwhile
loins could not draw a breath to bring a smile
to that dark core of procreation's verve.
If not, this stone would seem all too degraded
under the shoulders to translucence faded
without a glint of predatory mane;
nor break the bars confining, out to range
just like a star: for there is no domain
hid from that gaze. It's time your life must change.
(transl vzjp) (Report) Reply
My english isn't as good as I would like it to be, but I am from the country where Rilke was born and German is my mouther's tongue. And I love Rilke.
But nevertheless let me say that this translation comes as close to the words Rilke wrote as a translation could possibly come.
You did a very, very good job.
You catched the very spirit of the poem, and perhaps even more imporant, you brought the music of it into live in english. Rilke was kind of a composer. Rhyme, intonation, and rhythm all play a vital part in his art.
Thank you so much.: -)
the poem seems to be suffused with the idea that a piece of art is a whole in itself. Rilke turns the beheaded Apollo into a living statue that at the end of the poem appears to be looking back at the admirer. there is this sensation that each part of the incomplete sculpture has a life of its own as the poet posits his eyes on them; and after a while this life that the poet communicates to the immobile statue is stolen by it to make a part of itself... (Report) Reply
This translation is by Stephen Mitchell. It should be credited here. (Report) Reply
Jeremy; the above is not Stephen's translation - his appears here: https: //www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/archaic-torso-apollo
Rilke wrote in german. One of my favorite poems, I love the last line 'you must change your life.' Rilke was a master. His years with Rodin certainly paid off, I love how he describes the torso. Also, the inner brillance, and how when looking at a masterpiece it reminds one of greek gods. (Report) Reply
Rilke wrote in English?
Or did Babelfish translate this? (Report) Reply