Rainer Maria Rilke

The Sisters

The Sisters - meaning Summary

Mutual Dependence, Separate Paths

Rilke depicts two sisters whose lives mirror one another yet diverge in character and direction. They rely on each other physically and emotionally but fail to truly support or understand one another, producing stasis rather than growth. Their interaction alternates between strained dependence and brief, tender contact as they walk similar paths while ultimately moving in different ways, suggesting tension between resemblance and individual destiny.

Read Complete Analyses

Look how the same possibilities unfold in their opposite demeanors, as though one saw different ages passing through two identical rooms. Each thinks that she props up the other, while resting wearily on her support; and they can't make use of one another, for they cause blood to rest on blood, when as in the former times they softly touch and try, along the tree-lined walks, to feel themselves conducted and to lead; ah, the ways they go are not the same.

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