Maiden Melancholy
Maiden Melancholy - meaning Summary
Memory of an Idealized Encounter
Rilke imagines a brief, dreamlike encounter with a young knight whose arrival and departure leave the speaker altered. The poem frames loss as a blessing that converts sorrow into quiet, reverent yearning. Rich sensory and domestic images—bells, scarves, ivory, moonlight, book-gold—translate fleeting presence into sustained inner consolation. It presents melancholic memory as both wound and consolation, showing how an idealized figure can transform the speaker’s emotional landscape.
Read Complete AnalysesA young knight comes into my mind As from some myth of old. He came! You felt yourself entwined As a great storm would round you wind. He went! A blessing undefined Seemed left, as when church-bells declined And left you wrapt in prayer. You fain would cry aloud—but bind Your scarf about you and tear-blind Weep softly in its fold. A young knight comes into my mind Full armored forth to fare. His smile was luminously kind Like glint of ivory enshrined, Like a home longing undivined, Like Christmas snows where dark ways wind, Like sea-pearls about turquoise twined, Like moonlight silver when combined With a loved book's rare gold.
Translated by Jessie Lamont
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