person
Orpheus
The mythic Thracian singer whose music moved all things and who sought Eurydice in the underworld; for Rilke the archetypal poet, later the subject of the Sonnets to Orpheus. Rilke reads several Rodin figures as Orpheus.
Reading notes
- Auguste Rodin §100 Orpheus
The mythic Thracian singer whose song moved all things and who sought Eurydice in the underworld; the archetypal poet for Rilke, later the subject of his Sonnets to Orpheus.
- New Poems §70 the slender man in the blue cloak
Orpheus, the singer whose lyre could move the dead, leading Eurydice up from the underworld on the one condition that he not look back.
- The Sonnets to Orpheus §1 Orpheus
The mythic Thracian singer whose music moved beasts, trees, and stones; for Rilke the patron and very principle of song. The whole cycle is sung in his name.