Animal imagery in the Duino Elegies

Abstract

In an introductory part entitled “Encounters” (sections 1 and 2), I touch on aspects of Rilke’s biography relevant to themes of the Duino Elegies with which I will be concerned in the “Discussion” (sections 3, 4, 5). Therein –in dialogue with other authors that have concerned themselves with these ideas– I comment on the function that the existential figure of the animal takes on in the universe of meaning of the Elegies, in contrast with and complementing the figure of the angel. Through his metaphors with animals, the poet paints a sort of negative anthropology, a new image of the hu- man that goes a step beyond the optimistic humanism received from early modernity.