Christian Theology
Throughout the poetic career of Rainer Maria Rilke, the expression or exploration of the Christian faith is a major theme. Such a topic can be found in many of his works, yet is most prevalent in the late early poems that have a strong Christian narrative. A good example of this can be found in “Die Kinder” (The children) where death is portrayed as a benevolent Christian figure, promising eternal life. This poem is part of a cycle called the eleven visions of Christ, which in itself shows the strong mythical adoration for the Christian leader Rilke had.
The depiction of Christian faith and religious symbolism is positive within the works of Rilke where little doubt can be found as to the sincerity and truthfulness of god’s plan for this earth and his benevolence. Especially in his early career as a poet, Rilke wrote almost only religiously charged poems.
However, he never really adhered to common themes of religious worship of his time and one would be hard pressed to find many references to the bible or particular sermons within his poems. The Christian faith seems disengaged from the worldly and found only in the God and his acting upon this planet. The most important example of this is found in his “Duino Elegies”, which are heavily Christian but in such a mythical way as to be completely different from common Catholic or Protestant teachings.
This theme can be considered the most prevalent of all themes within Rilke’s poetry. It is the main theme of many of his poetic cycles, including “Christus Elf Visionen” (The eleven visions of Christ), “Gebete der Maedchen zu Maria” (The girls prayers to Mary), or “Das Marien- Leben” (The life of Mary). Later poems leave this theme and focus on other topics like ancient mythology and human life.
Nationalism
As a man of Bohemian (Czech) origin within the Austrian empire, Rilke showed strong nationalistic streaks within very early poems. While this theme becomes less prevalent in later stages of his writing, especially the very early cycle of poems “Larenopfer” (Sacrifice to the Laren), shows strong nationalistic tendencies within the description of characters.
A good example of this can be found in “Das Heimatlied” (The origin’s song). Rilke exemplifies the pride of his people through a young woman, upon being asked to sing a song about her home, says three words in Czech and starts crying in joy. This is significant as Bohemia was part of the Austrian Empire during Rilke’s lifetime and the usage of the Czech language in contrast to the German narrative can be seen as a nationalistic outburst.
Love – A girl’s life
Especially at the start of the twentieth century, after his first strong religious wave of poems, Rilke showed a special interest in the life of females, often from his own country. It is important to notice here that almost none of the poems actually describes a particular woman. The girls and women in these poems can be considered ideals of life and as a yearning towards companionship.
The poems focus on women’s life journey (e.g. “Jetzt sind sie schon alle selber Frauen” – They are women already), work (e.g. “Wenn die blonden Flechterinnen…” – When the blonde weavers…), romantic joy (e.g. “Koeniginnen seid ihr und reich…” – Queens you are and rich…) or even strive (e.g. Maedchenmelancholie” – melancholy of a girl).
However, the depicted women are always beautiful, idealistic and perfect in their position within society. Rilke refrained from depicting reality, rather focussing on an ideal world of men, where women’s life is purely defined by the existence and love of men.
Greek Mythology
Rilke’s strong focus on mythological content, especially his recount of the ancient Greek mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice in “Die Sonette an Orpheus” (Sonnets to Orpheus), found their height after his time as a soldier in First World War. Typical for Rilke’s style, most of the poems have a strong metaphoric character.
This focus on Greek mythology should, however, not be misunderstood as a refocus away from Christian believes, as most of these poems were created at the same time as his highly mythical Christian series “Duinos Elegien”. In contrast, when analyzing the Greek themes they are often found to be married to themes found in the bible.
