Little Tear-vase
Little Tear-vase - meaning Summary
Fragile Vessel of Sorrow
Rilke's poem imagines the speaker as a small, humble vessel reserved for tears, contrasting it with containers for wine or oil. The tears physically alter the glass: they blind it, weigh it down, give it an iridescent curve, make it brittle, and finally leave it empty. The image conveys how sorrow transforms and exhausts the one who bears it, suggesting self-sacrifice, fragility, and the corrosive effects of sustained grief.
Read Complete AnalysesOther vessels hold wine, other vessels hold oil inside the hollowed-out vault circumscribed by their clay. I, as smaller measure, and as the slimmest of all, humbly hollow myself so that just a few tears can fill me. Wine becomes richer, oil becomes clear, in its vessel. What happens with tears?-They made me blind in my glass, made me heavy and made my curve iridescent, made me brittle, and left me empty at last.
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