Panther

I also found the poem "The Panther" by Rainer Maria Rilke to be very interesting. The panther seems majestic because it is calm and observant, unlike a lion would be. The panther also brings a sense of darkness to the tone of the poem. Panthers are dark, and this one is confined against its will. The images of confinement are achieved by the phrases "constantly passing bars" and "cramped circles." Rilke keeps the tone in darkness by the way he ends the poem. The poem is ended without a final picture of what happens. The reader is left to interpret how the scenario ends. I believe that the image of the home of the panther enters its heart and leaves as it is taken away to an unknown place.