Beyond Existentialism

This essay illustrates the limitations of predominant existentialist readings of death, mortality, and authenticity in Rilke and the presence of spiritual and esoteric dimensions that also need to be taken into account. Rilke’s distinctive conception of the unity of the realm of the living and the realm of the dead involves a marriage of existentialist and spiritual perspectives, and is part and parcel of his monistic conception of the unity of the visible and the invisible. The Sonnets to Orpheus build on Rilke’s treatment of these themes in his earlier major works (the New Poems, Malte, Duino Elegies). Rilke draws on the legend of Orpheus entering the realm of the dead (in his attempt to bring back Eurydice) through the power of his poetry/music, in order to articulate the role of poetry in facilitating an expanded awareness of the ultimate unity of existence.