person
Gretel
The girl mourned in the 'Requiem' of Das Buch der Bilder: a friend of Rilke's youth (Gretel Kottmeyer) who died young. Rilke winds her an ivy wreath and addresses her across her death, telling her that her death was 'already old when her life began.'
Reading notes
- The Book of Images §64 Gretel
The young dead woman the Requiem mourns -- a friend of Rilke's youth who died early; the poet winds her an ivy wreath and speaks to her past her death.