Thursday, December 16, 2010

Week 5 Poem 3: Girl in Love by Ranier Maria Rilke

That's my window. This minute
So gently did I alight
From sleep--was still floating in it.
Where has my life its limit
And where begins the night?

I could fancy all things around me
Were nothing but I as yet;
Like a crystal's depth, profoundly
Mute, translucent, unlit.

I have space to spare inside me
For the stars, too: so full of room
Feels my heart; so lightly
Would it let go of him, whom

For all I know I have started
To love, it may be to hold.
Strange, as if never charted,
Stares my fortune untold.

Why is it I am bedded
Beneath this infinitude,
Fragrant like a meadow,
Hither and thither moved,

Calling out, yet fearing
Someone might hear the cry,
Destined to disappearing
Within another I.

4 comments:

  1. I saw a lot of images in the first three stanzas of the peom. It starts out with the narrator talking about her emptiness. She says,

    "Like a crystal's depth, profoundly
    Mute, translucent, unlit.

    I have space to spare inside me
    For the stars, too: so full of room
    Feels my heart"

    The narrators stars off talking about how much space she has in her heart that she wants to fill and light up. She is ready for anything because she says, "Where has my life its limit
    And where begins the night?". She wants to start her life, and she wants to start with romance. There is someone already whom she has started to fall in love with. I think she wants to let him go because she feels empty? But for all she knows (in her mind) she has started to love him.

    "Would it let go of him, whom

    For all I know I have started
    To love"

    The author uses the symbol of the "fagrant like a meadow" which I do not know what for, but I think it has to do with temptation. When she says "calling out. yet fearing Someone might hear the cry, Destined to disappearing within another I." I think the narrator means this as flirting with other people and fearing that her boyfriend might find out; therefore, leading to dissapointment.

    She thinks she's in love with someone but does not feel the passion in her heart, leading her to cheat.

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  2. When she mentions the window in the poem because she is trying to see when her life will begin and when her life will end, but it is not about life and death, rather founding when she will start loving honestly, and when that love will end. The poet gave me the sense that speaker is inexperienced with love matters. Also how she says that it was strange but that it has been charted, it seems to the reader that she has loved but that she is maybe scared of doing it because her fortune stares at her untold. Also when she says that she is destined to disappear with another I she gives a sense that she is maybe the one that does not want to love because perhaps she does not want to show that she feels empty.

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  3. 1st paragraph
    That's my window. This minute
    So gently did I alight
    From sleep--was still floating in it.
    Where has my life its limit
    And where begins the night?
    I believe the narrator use the word “window” as a metaphor to describe her life or her love life. Her life is like a window that can be open and seen through.
    The narrator is asleep and yet she is still conscious about her thoughts when she says, “So gently did I alight from sleep- was still floating in it.”
    2nd paragraph
    I could fancy all things around me
    Were nothing but I as yet;
    Like a crystal's depth, profoundly
    Mute, translucent, unlit.
    The narrator is going in detail describing her heart as a “crystal.” To be “profoundly (strong)
    mute (silent), translucent (transparent), unlit (dark).”
    3rd paragraph
    I have space to spare inside me
    For the stars, too: so full of room
    Feels my heart; so lightly
    Would it let go of him, whom
    “I have space to spare inside me for the stars, too” Here the narrator talks about her heart being empty. So empty that it will be difficult to love someone, as she writes, “so lightly would it let go of him.” Or she might already have fallen in love but does not know who.
    4th paragraph
    For all I know I have started
    To love, it may be to hold.
    Strange, as if never charted,
    Stares my fortune untold.
    The narrator talks about falling in love. She feels strange since it was plan and for not knowing the outcome of her relationship. “Strange, as if never charted”
    6th paragraph
    Calling out, yet fearing
    Someone might hear the cry,
    Destined to disappearing
    Within another I.
    The narrator seems unhappy, “yet fearing someone might hear the cry.” She is worried that her relationship might not work and will fall in love with another, “destined to disappearing within another I”.

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  4. Thats my window is the speakers world and in her time she has landed and completed her goals but in her dreams she is still floating never truly receiving what she wanted.In the poem, she asks herself where is her life's end and where did it begin.In the second stanza she says she can visualize everything around her with vacantness like crystal's depth etc.She claims to be empty and have a vast amount of love but is not sure if its enough for the person she loves.She lacks experience in the idea of love and is destined to be alone.The poet is saying that the girl is in love but also fears love.

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