Narcissus
Narcissus - meaning Summary
Desire Turns Inward
Rilke's "Narcissus" presents the myth as a meditation on self-reflection and inward desire. The speaker watches a mirrored, idealized image and traces how nature imitates that inward turn: some things soften, others harden. The poem frames desire as a returning motion that embraces life from a distance and ends with an open question about whether such inwardness can renew an inner center beneath the surface.
Read Complete AnalysesEncircled by her arms as by a shell, she hears her being murmur, while forever he endures the outrage of his too pure image... Wistfully following their example, nature re-enters herself; contemplating its own sap, the flower becomes too soft, and the boulder hardens... It's the return of all desire that enters toward all life embracing itself from afar... Where does it fall? Under the dwindling surface, does it hope to renew a center?
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