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Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke
Poem: The Grown-Up
Poem of the Day on:
Oct 30 2003
Comment 2 of 2, added on December 9th, 2007 at 10:40 PM.
my analysis for AP Lit. I had little time to read the poem and write this but i think it provides some good insight.
(also, i used two translations of the poem to write this)
In Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Grownup”, Rilke compares a female’s journey out of childhood to a woman carrying a water jug on her head. This woman is basically carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders – most likely she is going through some kind of hardship or dilemma, because words like “weight” and “pain” are used. This burden is “growing” and standing tall upon her, “as trees stand”. It is “imageless/yet wholly image, like the Ark of God”. This could mean that it has no form, but it lives within her, like God living within the Ark of the Covenant. Maybe Rilke is relating her burden to God because it her handling of it will have severe repercussions, like an important decision she must make or a direction she must choose. These are things that change children into adults – the handling of the tough times.
In the second stanza, the female carrying the weight of the world is now likened to a woman who carries a water jug on her head. “She bore it” very expertly and calmly. “She endured it all” – “all the monstrous and the still unmastered”. This means that although it was big and monstrous, and she did not fully understand yet, she carried it serenely. Next, the woman is “in the midst of play, transfiguring, preparing for the other”. This could mean that now she is focusing on her jug, but on pleasure, and is now changing, and focusing on someone else. Now, “the first while veil fell smoothly, softly” – this could mean that she is getting married to the aforementioned “other”. This stanza continues the sentence/thought to the first line of the third stanza.
The third stanza says that the veil falls “over her opened face, almost opaque,/never to raise itself again”. The use of the word “opaque” for a face is quite uncommon. This could mean that she is no longer simple and transparent like a child, but now many-layered and more secretive/reserved like a woman. “Never to raise itself again” means that she will never raise her unguarded face again, only the one that has suffered and “opened” her eyes. The veil gives all her questions just “one vague answer: In you, who were a child once- in you.” This means that her answers can be found within herself, the strong woman who bore on her shoulders great distress and pain. She, once a child who got her needs met by parents or teachers or friends, is no longer innocent and naïve. Her vague conclusion after her defining experiences is that she must handle things alone. This is ironic if she is indeed getting married as is implied. She knows what the world is like and must find answers within her own strength to overcome what the world brings.
Sarah from United States
Comment 1 of 2, added on April 10th, 2006 at 5:37 PM.
I've been reading this poem the last few days, trying to figure out what it means. I get an idea of marriage, due to the white veil, yet it could also be symbolic of losing virginity. Maybe she's getting married which is equated to growing up, or perhaps losing her virginity equated to growing up.
The beginning reminds me of "carrying the weight of the world on one's shoulders."
"serenely as a woman carrying water moves with a full jug" - I can picture it, but does the water splash around, or it is graceful?
The end, is she withchild?
I'm so confused. Anybody have any ideas?
Ashley from United States
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my analysis for AP Lit. I had little time to read the poem and write this but i think it provides some good insight.
(also, i used two translations of the poem to write this)
In Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Grownup”, Rilke compares a female’s journey out of childhood to a woman carrying a water jug on her head. This woman is basically carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders – most likely she is going through some kind of hardship or dilemma, because words like “weight” and “pain” are used. This burden is “growing” and standing tall upon her, “as trees stand”. It is “imageless/yet wholly image, like the Ark of God”. This could mean that it has no form, but it lives within her, like God living within the Ark of the Covenant. Maybe Rilke is relating her burden to God because it her handling of it will have severe repercussions, like an important decision she must make or a direction she must choose. These are things that change children into adults – the handling of the tough times.
In the second stanza, the female carrying the weight of the world is now likened to a woman who carries a water jug on her head. “She bore it” very expertly and calmly. “She endured it all” – “all the monstrous and the still unmastered”. This means that although it was big and monstrous, and she did not fully understand yet, she carried it serenely. Next, the woman is “in the midst of play, transfiguring, preparing for the other”. This could mean that now she is focusing on her jug, but on pleasure, and is now changing, and focusing on someone else. Now, “the first while veil fell smoothly, softly” – this could mean that she is getting married to the aforementioned “other”. This stanza continues the sentence/thought to the first line of the third stanza.
The third stanza says that the veil falls “over her opened face, almost opaque,/never to raise itself again”. The use of the word “opaque” for a face is quite uncommon. This could mean that she is no longer simple and transparent like a child, but now many-layered and more secretive/reserved like a woman. “Never to raise itself again” means that she will never raise her unguarded face again, only the one that has suffered and “opened” her eyes. The veil gives all her questions just “one vague answer: In you, who were a child once- in you.” This means that her answers can be found within herself, the strong woman who bore on her shoulders great distress and pain. She, once a child who got her needs met by parents or teachers or friends, is no longer innocent and naïve. Her vague conclusion after her defining experiences is that she must handle things alone. This is ironic if she is indeed getting married as is implied. She knows what the world is like and must find answers within her own strength to overcome what the world brings.
Sarah from United States