Rainer Maria Rilke

Song of the Sea

Song of the Sea - meaning Summary

Wind as Indifferent Force

Rilke's poem treats the sea breeze as an impersonal, ancient force that arrives regardless of human presence. The wind is both indifferent and elemental, having shaped rocks over aeons and carrying a pure, distant space. Its visitation tests those who wake to it, and it affects living things subtly, as shown by the fig tree sensing the wind in moonlight. The tone is contemplative and quietly reverent toward nature's autonomy.

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Timeless sea breezes, sea-wind of the night: you come for no one; if someone should wake, he must be prepared how to survive you. Timeless sea breezes, that for aeons have blown ancient rocks, you are purest space coming from afar... Oh, how a fruit-bearing fig tree feels your coming high up in the moonlight.

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