And Then There's Rilke
Torso of an Archaic Apollo
Translated by C. F. MacIntyre
Never will we know his fabulous head
where the eyes' apples slowly ripened. Yet
his torso glows: a candelabrum set
before his gaze which is pushed back and hid,
restrained and shining. Else the curving breast
could not thus blind you, nor through the soft turn
of the loins could this smile easily have passed
into the bright groins where the genitals burned.
Else stood this stone a fragment and defaced,
with lucent body from the shoulders falling,
too short, not gleaming like a lion's fell;
nor would this star have shaken the shackles off,
bursting with light, until there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
From Rilke: Selected Poems (Univ. of California Press, 1957)
Ursula K. Leguin, speaking of this poem, observed:
True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible
source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical
inquiry and artistic renewal. The real myth is not destroyed by
reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You
look at the Blond Hero - really look - and he turns into a
gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you.
The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years
ago, and Apollo spoke to him. 'You must change your life,' he said.
When the genuine myth rises into consciousness, that is always
its message. You must change your life.
(from "Myth and Archetype in Science Fiction", 1976; reprinted in
The Language of the Night, 1989)
Translated by C. F. MacIntyre
Never will we know his fabulous head
where the eyes' apples slowly ripened. Yet
his torso glows: a candelabrum set
before his gaze which is pushed back and hid,
restrained and shining. Else the curving breast
could not thus blind you, nor through the soft turn
of the loins could this smile easily have passed
into the bright groins where the genitals burned.
Else stood this stone a fragment and defaced,
with lucent body from the shoulders falling,
too short, not gleaming like a lion's fell;
nor would this star have shaken the shackles off,
bursting with light, until there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.
From Rilke: Selected Poems (Univ. of California Press, 1957)
Ursula K. Leguin, speaking of this poem, observed:
True myth may serve for thousands of years as an inexhaustible
source of intellectual speculation, religious joy, ethical
inquiry and artistic renewal. The real myth is not destroyed by
reason. The fake one is. You look at it and it vanishes. You
look at the Blond Hero - really look - and he turns into a
gerbil. But you look at Apollo, and he looks back at you.
The poet Rilke looked at a statue of Apollo about fifty years
ago, and Apollo spoke to him. 'You must change your life,' he said.
When the genuine myth rises into consciousness, that is always
its message. You must change your life.
(from "Myth and Archetype in Science Fiction", 1976; reprinted in
The Language of the Night, 1989)
posted by Sidi Hamid Benengeli | 5:41 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for posting this piece of Rilke, and the lovely Leguin.
Do you know about LOST SON, the new novel based on Rilke's life and work?
Find out more at www.mallencunningham.com
Cheers.
Real myth cannot even be spoken to by reason. The attempt will be completely inadequate. It can only be spoken to by art, which changes it in the same manner that Kafka's art changed Browning (see Borges short piece on this topic)
This is why second rate critics always prefer second rate art over true art, illegitimate myth over true. Such preference permits the second rate critic, (a hack), to seem intelligent and correct. One can pigeon hole the illegitimate, speak of it in a rational matter and encompass it. The hack is illuminated for what he is before true art and true myth, a fool and a charlatan.
True art, true myth, stymies reason and can only be dealt with by more art. The first rate critic does not employ reason, but employs his art. True criticism is always as risky as true art and the true critic risks looking the complete fool in the same degree as the true artist.
I do not know about LOST SON. I will check out your site. Many thanks.
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