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Annotated by:
- Donley, Carol
- Date of entry: May-23-1996
Summary
This sad poem, in the dwarf’s voice, describes the pain of having "crooked blood" and hands that "hop around sluggishly / like toads after a rain." The dwarf wonders why God doesn’t just throw him out on the dump because his body is so distorted and worn out.
Primary Source
Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
Publisher
Harper & Row: Perennial
Place Published
New York
Edition
1981
Editor
Robert Bly
Commentary
The dwarf begins by pondering whether his soul is "upright and OK," though his body is crooked and bent. "My soul has no place to walk in, no place to lie" he says, because "it catches onto my sharp skeleton / with a terrified beating of wings." The soul is trapped and alarmed by his body. There seems to be no way to overcome this distress except death.