Analysis of I Am Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone

Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 (Prague) – 1926 (Montreux)



I am much too alone in this world, yet not alone
enough
to truly consecrate the hour.
I am much too small in this world, yet not small
enough
to be to you just object and thing,
dark and smart.
I want my free will and want it accompanying
the path which leads to action;
and want during times that beg questions,
where something is up,
to be among those in the know,
or else be alone.

I want to mirror your image to its fullest perfection,
never be blind or too old
to uphold your weighty wavering reflection.
I want to unfold.
Nowhere I wish to stay crooked, bent;
for there I would be dishonest, untrue.
I want my conscience to be
true before you;
want to describe myself like a picture I observed
for a long time, one close up,
like a new word I learned and embraced,
like the everday jug,
like my mother's face,
like a ship that carried me along
through the deadliest storm.


Scheme aBxxBcxcdxexa dfdfxgxgxexxxxx
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010111101 01 11010010 11111011111 01 111111001 101 1111101101000 0111110 011011110 11011 11011001 11101 111101101110010 1011111 101110100010 11101 11111101 1111101001 1111011 1011 110111010101 1011111 101111001 1011 11101 101110101 101001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 877
Words 171
Sentences 8
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 13, 15
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 343
Words per stanza (avg) 85
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

51 sec read
253

Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke — better known as Rainer Maria Rilke — was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. more…

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