Panther

"An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone."
"The Panther"
Rainer Maria Rilke


This poem emphasizes a constant feeling of imprisonment for the panther. The words "curtain," and "ritual dance," hint that the panther may be contained as an act for a circus. In the quote above, it is evident that the panther may possess a sliver of hope when he opens his eyes that he may be roaming free, but the feeling quickly escapes him when he looks up and sees the bars still surrounding him. Rilke is most likely trying to convey the idea that caging animals is cruel. No animal should live a confined life in which it cannot run freely as it pleases. As we see through the panther's perspective, the vision grows weary, and all optimism is lost when animals are deemed to a life imprisoned in a cage.

I also cannot help but wonder why Rilke chose to use a panther to emphasize the evil of caging animals. Why not a lion or a tiger? The only conclusion I can come up with is that a panther is a very sleek, beautiful feline, so he found it to be even more persuasive in his argument against animal cruelty--His point is to say, "How could anyone cage up such a beautiful animal?", as opposed to giving us a rather commonplace perspective through the tiger or lion's eyes. (No offense to tigers and lions)