"The Panther" (subtitled: "In Jardin des Plantes, Paris"; ) is a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke written between 1902 and 1903. It describes a captured panther behind bars, as it was exhibited in the Ménagerie of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It is one of Rilke's most famous poems and has been translated into English many times, including by many distinguished translators of Rilke, such as Stephen Mitchell, C. F. MacIntyre, J. B. Leishman and Walter Arndt, Jessie Lamont and the poet Robert Bly. It is used in the film Awakenings (1990) by the protagonist Leonard Lowe as a metaphor for his physical disability.
Content
The poem consists of three stanzas (strophes), each containing four verses with alternating feminine and masculine cadence:
German
English
English
References
Further reading
- Hans Kügler: Rainer Maria Rilke. Der Panther. In: Karl Hotz (Hrsg.): Gedichte aus sieben Jahrhunderten. Interpretationen. Buchner, Bamberg 1987, , p. 211 German)
- Manfred Back: âÂÂDas Anschauen ist eine so wunderbare Sache â¦âÂÂ. Rilkes Panther nach dem Sprung ins Dinggedicht. In: Ingo Wintermeyer (Hrsg.): Kleine Lauben, Arcadien und Schnabelewopski. Festschrift für Klaus Jeziorkowski. Königshausen und Neumann, Würzburg 1995, , pp. 123âÂÂ131 (excerpt at Google books, German).
- Erich Unglaub: Panther und Aschanti. Rilke-Gedichte in kulturwissenschaftlicher Sicht. Lang, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 2005, (German)
- Lawrence Ryan: Neue Gedichte - New Poems. In: Erika Alma Metzger (ed.), Michael M. Metzger (ed.): A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke. Boydell & Brewer, 2001, , pp. 128âÂÂ153
External links