In the poem “The Panther” Rainer Maria Rilke is trying to depict the reality of the caged animals that are living in a very pitiable condition losing their natural habitat and freedom from being wild and blissful.
This poem can be a satire to humans who are responsible for making the animals and wildlife homeless. The panther's imprisoned consciousness has lost its power to grasp the reality beyond it. Ironically, seen from the panther's point of view human beings are imprisoned in a cage and display a loss of consciousness.
Rainer Maria Rilke was an Austrian lyric poet, born in Bohemia His conception of art as a quasi-religious vocation culminated in the hymnic lyrics for which he is best known: The Sonnets to Orpheus and Duino Elegies , both written in 1923 , in which he sought to define a poet's spiritual role in the face of transience and death . He created the "object poem" as an attempt to describe with utmost clarity physical objects, the "silence of their concentrated reality"
In September of 1905, the famous French sculptor Rodin offered Rilke a job as his secretary. Rodin taught him a great deal. For an artist, Rodin said, the thing is not dreaming or talking, but work. When Rilke confided one day that he had not been writing lately, Rodin suggested that Rilke go to the zoo. "What shall I do there?" asked Rilke. And Rodin said, "Look at an animal until you see it. Two or three weeks might not be too long. "Rilke chose a panther, and wrote this celebrated "seeing" poem (1927) in German which imitates in its sound the panther's walk.
The Panther -Rainer Maria Rilke
Detailed summary of the poem The Panther by Rainer Maria Rilke
The poem depicts the picture of a panther locked in a cage. He hopes to be free and sees the dream of wandering in the jungle. Dreaming of his freedom, he moves around in the cage. While moving in the cage iron bars, he becomes so tired and cannot see anything. To him, it looks as if, there are thousands of bars and behind the bars, there is no world. When he moves round and round in the cage frequently, his body movement looks as if he is performing a ritual dance. The panther has a keen desire to go out but he feels paralyzed and arrested. The panther perceives the image of the people outside when his eyes see outside, he rushes with his tired legs to get free. Unfortunately, caged bars make his all attempts vain and meaningless.
FAQ’s
1. Why is the panther pacing?
Ans: The panther is pacing because he hopes for his freedom from the cage.
2. What has happened to the panther's vision?
Ans: The panther's vision makes him think that there are thousands of bars and behind the bar and there is no world
3. What do you understand by "a ritual dance" (1. 7)?
Ans: He moves around the cage and his movement seems like he is performing a ritual dance.
4. What image does enter the panther's pupils?
Ans: In his pupils, there are images of his freedom from the cage.
5. Where does the image go?
Ans: The images go to wandering in the jungle and killing the audience who has made it fun by keeping him in the zoo cage.
6. Describe the panther's world.
Ans: Though the panther is a mighty and strong animal, it seems as if all his powerful desires have vanished. Sometimes, he opens his eyes and an image of his freedom goes into his heart through the tensed and arrested muscles but it ends there without any result. The panther has not seen the real world for many years. So, his visions are also confused. He is moving here and there helplessly. The poem depicts the agony of the panther that has been imprisoned. The mighty strength of the panther has been paralyzed and the tensed muscles have been arrested.
7. What emotions does the tone of the poem evoke?
Ans: The tone of the poem evokes freedom
8. How is the panther similar to a person in prison? How is this panther different from a person in prison?
Ans: The condition of the panther in this poem can be similar to a person in prison in the way that both are away from their natural environment and have lost their freedom.
9. Why are the panther's body parts being discussed?
Ans: The panther's body parts are being discussed in order to show how human beings make weak the wild animals kept in a cage.
10. The poem is about the human condition. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Ans: Yes, I agree because caged panther activities can be compared with innocent and helpless people whom Rana had shot, imprisoned, killed, or hung. In fact, the poem is about the human condition because many suppressed and oppressed people’s conditions are like a caged panther. They are deprived of their right, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
11. Draw a comparison of the similarities and differences between "The Panther" and Lekhanath Paudyal's " The Parrot in the Cage".
Ans: Like the panther, the parrot, for the sake of his freedom from the cage, he struggles much with caged iron. While doing this, his beak blurred and, his wings and legs have much got pain. Unlike panther, he has to speak and sing although his throat is dry. If he did not sing, he is beaten with a stick. Like a panther, till he does not die, he has to confine inside a cage. So, he hates mankind and prays the god not to give birth to parrots till there are human beings.