The ‘overwhelming existence’ in Rilke’s First Elegy is a being of the Angelic Order, terrible because even friendly contact with a human can result in the unintended annihilation of the weaker existence. That is, they are everything that has existed and now is invisible or no longer exists they represent the thoughts and objects in human history while acting as a binary for all that is human and all that is less beautiful. Rilke’s angels exist not only in his poetry, but in his expressions of the present and the past, the real and the unreal, life and death, and terrifyingly, without the ability to reciprocate. This research not only provides me insight into poetry and the artistic merit of poetry, but also connects me to the human condition in new and revealing ways-my perspective on detachment and longing will never be the same. For further understanding, I include research topics on the study of poetry and artistic awareness from authors such as Longinus, Matthew Arnold, and Martin Buber. With careful analysis and close reading of several of the Duino Elegies poems, as well as comparison to angel characters offered by other poets, including William Blake, John Milton, and Rumi, I attempt to uncover some of the intricacies and the larger meaning of Rilke’s angels. There is something within the persona of these angels that make Rilke’s poems both intriguing and unsettling-the angels are nearly human they are almost like us, but not quite. These angelic characters have an uncanny resemblance to the history and longing of the human condition and can be interpreted in many ways based on readers’ personal experiences. The poet Rainer Maria Rilke offers stunning portrayals of angels in his series of poems entitled the Duino Elegies.

Rilke 9th elegy