Air, Ether, Atmosphere: Space in Rilke’s Duineser Elegien

Abstract

This essay argues that the Duineser Elegien articulate Rilke’s conception of air as a material expression of space. The Elegies present spaces pervaded by aerial substances such as breath, wind and ether; thereby, they transform space from a passive background or a mere void into an entity that can be perceived in its own right. I show that the Elegies’ recasting of vacuity into filled space engages the scientific rethinking of space and matter in the period, in particular, the idea of the ether in physics and the discourse of milieu in biology. When, in his Rodin texts, Rilke argues that sculptures engender their own ‘Umgebung’ and ‘Milieu’, he harnesses the biological idea of environment for aesthetic objects. Taking a cue from Rodin’s statues, which transform the empty spaces around themselves into atmospheric envelopes, the Elegies evoke spaces as instances of hollowness that revert into fullness. This ability of space to change from a negation into a determination makes it into an ideal poetic medium for Rilke who wants to show the reversibility of lament into affirmation.