The carousel

The carousel is one of the most famous poems by Rainer Maria Rilke . He wrote this thing poem in Paris in 1906 . In the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris , the lyrical self watches the “eternal” circling of a children's carousel .

text

The
Jardin du Luxembourg carousel

With a roof and its shadow,
the population
of colorful horses turns for a while , all from the country that
hesitates for a long time before it goes under.
It is true that some are harnessed to wagons,
but all have courage in their faces;
an angry red lion goes with them
and every now and then a white elephant.

There is even a deer, just like in the forest,
only that it wears a saddle and
a little blue girl is strapped over it .

And on the lion a white boy rides
and holds himself with his little hot hand
while the lion shows teeth and tongue.

And now and then a white elephant.

And they pass on the horses,
girls too, light-colored ones, who have
almost outgrown this horse jump; in the middle of the swing they
look up, somewhere, across -.

And now and then a white elephant.

And that goes and rushes, that it ends,
and just circles and turns and has no goal.
A red, a green, a gray sent past,
a small profile that has barely begun -.
And sometimes a smile, turned around,
a blissful one that dazzles and wastes
on this breathless, blind game ...

Literary classification

Characteristic of thing poems in Das Karussell , too, the speaking authority and its self-reflection take a back seat to the representation of an object, which largely speaks for itself. At the turn of the century, Rilke moved in a countercurrent to naturalism, which was linked to impressionist and symbolist ideas. In contrast to the naturalistic representation, Rilke tries to capture impressions of the moment, blurred by movement, sometimes reduced to colors and details. Rilke's Das Karussell goes beyond the impressionistic representation of optical impressions: the objects symbolically refer not to something else, but to their inner being, as if the thing itself spoke.

The new poems from 1907, to which Das Karussell belongs, were written during Rilke's stay in Paris from 1905/06. Rilke worked here as the secretary of the sculptor Auguste Rodin and was influenced by developments in the visual arts in his area.

Formal consideration

When looking at the form, the first thing that catches the eye is the different length of the stanza (8 - 3 - 3 - 1 - 4 - 1 - 7 verses).

The first stanza represents the carousel as a whole.

Then a girl (2nd stanza) and a boy (3rd stanza) are shown as passengers.

Verses 4 and 6 consist only of the "white elephant".

Verse 5 is about the almost adult girls.

The last verse looks again at the now faster rotating carousel as a whole.

The increased speed is conveyed by the shortened intervals in which the white elephant appears, and further by the more rhythmic language. The endless rotating movement is also expressed formally through the enjambement of individual verses. The three points at the end of the poem represent the expected continuation of this turning movement. The even meter also supports the representation of the rotating carousel (5-lobed iambus throughout).

In addition, the frequently repeated conjunction “and” is used to represent the circular motion, sometimes also as an anaphor .

And that goes and rushes that it ends

and just circles and turns and has no aim.

The result is an overall picture of initially additively lined up details ("and"), which initially stand for themselves in the slow rotating movement, but then mix to form an overall picture of color impressions and flashing smiles on the small faces at the end of the poem. This acceleration of the carousel is conveyed in the last two stanzas through the choice of words ("past", "horse jump", "swing", "hurries", "past"), through broken sentences and a change in the rhyme scheme.

interpretation

In terms of content, the poem confronts the adult beholder's perspective with the imaginative world of children. Blinded by the beauty of the children's world, the adult knows at the same time that it is limited:

of colorful horses, all from the country,

that hesitates for a long time before it goes down. (V. 3 f.)

The life of children, whose charisma is based on self-reference, in a lack of goals and looks at oneself, fascinates the strollers who watch it. In the poem, the "breathless, blind game" of childhood is captured in various images. First of all, there is the carousel and its rotating movement as an overarching metaphor for the “country that hesitates a long time before it goes under”. In detail, it is the children who immerse themselves in their imagination, ride a deer, “just like in the forest”, or experience courage and fear like the little boy on the “bad red lion”. A specific perspective of the distant observer is the facelessness of the happy children, a "barely started profile" (v. 24). In their play they do not appear as small individual adults, but as symbolic figures of childhood in general. The symbolism of the colors leaves some room for subjective interpretations. If “the little blue girl” on the deer portrays herself as a romantic figure to the literarily educated, other interpretations may also be possible here.

Another symbol is the white elephant, which on the one hand conveys the rotating movement of the children's carousel, but on the other hand could also stand for special events in childhood. The white of the elephant could symbolize the innocence of childhood. Here, too, there is scope for interpretation. Some aspects are highlighted by alliterations, such as the effect animals have on children:

but all have courage in their expressions; (V. 6)

while the lion shows teeth and tongue. (V. 14)

In the specialist literature, among other things, the poem's position on the phenomenon of childhood is assessed differently. Sometimes the adult perspective is emphasized by “unmasking” the happiness of childhood - and with it every self-forgotten game - as an illusion, sometimes the self-reliance and fantasy of the children's world is contrasted with the adult world as a “true” world, whose happiness blinds us. To some interpretations, the carousel appears as a metaphor for any kind of self-forgetting game.

Central to the analysis could be the older girls who want to re-enter the world of children, but - almost like adults - are no longer able to completely indulge in the "blind game" and "look up, somewhere, across ”into the adult world.

Charles Garnier designed the children's carousel that inspired Rilke. The carousel becomes a symbol of life in its aimless but constant movement, in which the same images keep recurring, similar to Nietzsche's Eternal Return . Rilke also uses the psychology of perception by first assigning the colors precisely such as brightly colored horses, red lions, white elephants, and finally the colors separate from the "things" like an increase in speed - the colors become blurred.

literature

Durs Grünbein : A little blue girl. To Rainer Maria Rilke The carousel . Detmold 2007, ISBN 3-9807248-8-3
Wolfram Groddeck: Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. Interpretations . Reclam, Ditzingen October 1999, ISBN 3-150-17510-0
Bernhardt, Rüdiger: "Rainer Maria Rilke - The Lyrical Creation", Bange Verlag, Hollfeld, 2012

Settings

Claus Boysen speaks the poem
Overflowing Skies - Rilke Project Vol. 3 (Audio-CD), Random House Audio, March 2004, ISBN 3-898-30695-X
Will Quadflieg pronounces Rilke - poems: the book of hours - for me to celebrate - the book of pictures - sonnets to Orpheus - new poems - poems from the estate, audio CD
In the third section of the cantata “Thoughts on Time” from 1999, Helmut Barbe set the poem to music.
Reinhardt Repkes Club der Toten Dichter on the album Eine Wunders Melodie (Rainer Rilke set new music), Zug Records 2010, audio CD

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Bernhardt, Rüdiger: Rainer Maria Rilke- Das Lyrische Schaffen, Bange Verlag, Hollfeld, 2012

[1] Bernhardt, Rüdiger: Rainer Maria Rilke- Das Lyrische Schaffen, Bange Verlag, Hollfeld, 2012