The Rose

The rose symbolizes the unity of life and death, and the earthly memorializing of the sacred expanse of eternity and the silence of solitary contemplation.

A Lover's Wombappears in Phallic Poems

Throughout the Phallic Poems, the woman's womb is described in metaphors ranging from trees to temples of Hermes, to the heavens, to a mountain.

The Poet's Penisappears in The Phallic Poems

Just as the woman's womb is described in metaphor, Rilke describes his own manhood with images like a rocket, the bud of a flower, the image of a god, a pillar, a tree and an exploring child.

The Tombstoneappears in Epitaph

Rilke composed a two-line poem to be engraved on his tombstone featuring the major symbols and themes from his poetry.

Venusappears in January, 1924, I

The light in the sky that doesn't depend on darkness like all the other stars in the sky.

The Crossappears in Epitaph