The Neighbour
The Neighbour - meaning Summary
A Solitary Violin's Summons
Rilke’s poem addresses a solitary violin whose distant music acts like memory, haunting the speaker across unfamiliar cities. The speaker wonders whether many play the instrument or a single player, but mainly why its lonely voice always reaches him. The violin’s song prods vulnerable men toward rivers and suggests life’s heaviness. The poem links music, solitude, and an intimate sense of being neighbor to others’ sorrow.
Read Complete AnalysesStrange violin! Dost thou follow me? In many foreign cities, far away, Thy lone voice spoke to me like memory. Do hundreds play thee, or does but one play? Are there in all great cities tempest-tossed Men who would seek the rivers but for thee, Who, but for thee, would be forever lost? Why drifts thy lonely voice always to me? Why am I the neighbour always Of those who force to sing thy trembling strings? Life is more heavy—thy song says— Than the vast, heavy burden of all things.
Translated by Jessie Lamont
Feel free to be first to leave comment.