The White House at Night, by Vincent van Gogh
Things are not nearly so comprehensible and sayable as we are generally made to believe. Most experiences are unsayable; they come to fullness in a realm that words do not inhabit. And most unsayable of all are works of art, which —alongside our transient lives— mysteriously endure.
Letters to a Young Poet
How very true...
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the opening lines of the Taoteching: The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
ReplyDeleteWorks of art, music included, speak in a wordless language just as true, perhaps even more true, than any speech. Nature, too.
The unsayable, I agree with this quote, completely.
ReplyDeleteI feel this too.
ReplyDeleteYet I am conscious of the fact that this writer, Rilke, has done it better than anyone I've come across before -- bringing the visible in to the invisible, and putting it into words. It's like what we've said about translation: you can't get it completely right, carrying the special nuances from the original language, but still I feel that profound interior connection with his thoughts in words . . . . translated from his heart-mind, into German words, into English words! So in a way, this reading is a good reminder today, that still, his words are not the moon, but only the finger pointing at the moon.
Words are symbols and, as such, they always limit the reality they are designed to reflect. To me, it is reassuring the hear Rilke remind everyone that symbols are not reality, and that the most valuable experiences "come to fullness in a realm that words do not inhabit."
ReplyDeletewords, paintings, are like signposts, clues, doorways, windows that allow us to see where the real riches lie. steven
ReplyDeleteI think that Rilke is placing Art on a higher plane and alluding to art criticism here, as he does at the end of his last letter to Mr. Kappus. All art is real and unsayable,therefore he is highly critical of all attempts made by 'half-artistic' professions to explain it:
ReplyDelete'Art too is just a way of living, and however one lives, one can, without knowing,prepare for it; in everything real one is closer to it, more its neighbour, than in the unreal half-artistic professions, which, while they pretend to be close to art, in practice deny and attack the existence of all art - as, for example, all of journalism does and almost all criticism and three quarters of what is called(and wants to be called) literature.'
Perhaps the gift is to find the art in the everyday, to see every moment as a work of art -- unsayably beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLove this -- "his words are not the moon, but only the finger pointing at the moon."
Yes! Robert and I were just talking about an artist who shoots in film and we were moaning about the depth and beauty of his prints. Why, why, why? Trying to understand the difference. The tones? The range? The way light is captured? And I said, yes, yes, but, something else, something I can't conceive, something I can't put words to, something that exists before words even, before the conception even, perhaps before the art and the artist himself, perhaps, and yet, and yet - here it is. Unsayable. Yes.
ReplyDeletexo
erin
Unsayable. Incomprehensible. But we speak, say, witness, write, paint, create art, because these things we are compelled to do. This is being human. Knowing, as we do it, that the fullness, the completion, lies elsewhere, beyond us, out of our hands. We, Rilke, the artist, the translator - fingers pointing at the moon, as Ruth reminds us so evocatively.
ReplyDeletei came by louise and i'm thrilled about your blog because i like rilke a lot - and i'm german and can read him in german. regarding translation, i have to say, there are some really good translations of his work around, yet sometimes there are nuances that make the poem and it's not really possible to translate it properly.
ReplyDeletegood job - will stick around...
Enjoyed and agree with this quote. And the Van Gogh...
ReplyDeletethis expresses my constant struggle to create --then answer is to let go..just be and just do!
ReplyDeleteHey! Came across your blog via a web search for Rilke. I love his work and am currently reading the same book that you quote your posts from :)
ReplyDeleteThink of a hug when you most need one. Words can never replace a warm, comforting embrace. Or a hand laid gently upon another showing compassion often says more than words ever could.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I said "I love you SO much" to my three year old son. He usually chimes back and says "SO much!" But he placed his hand next to my cheek (like I do to him all the time) and the leapt into my arms and wrapped his legs around me and hugged for me for all he was worth. No words will every be able to explain the fullness of my heart!
oh yes, this.
ReplyDeleteit's why I stare at many a comment box as well.