The Panther (poem)

The Panther
In Jardin des Plantes, Paris
by Rainer Maria Rilke
Artists at the Jardin des Plantes.
Original titleDer Panther
TranslatorStanley Appelbaum
C. F. MacIntyre
J. B. Leishman
Walter Arndt
Robert Bly
Jessie Lamont
LanguageGerman
FormNarrative
Publication date ()
Media typePaperback
Full text
Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (1918)/The Panther at Wikisource

"The Panther" (subtitled: "In Jardin des Plantes, Paris"; German: Der Panther: Im Jardin des Plantes, Paris) is a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke written between 1902 and 1903.[1] It describes a captured panther behind bars, as it was exhibited in the Ménagerie of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. It is one of Rilke's most famous poems and has been translated into English many times, including by many distinguished translators of Rilke, like Stephen Mitchell, C. F. MacIntyre, J. B. Leishman and Walter Arndt, Jessie Lamont and poets like Robert Bly. It is used in the film Awakenings (1990) by the protagonist Leonard Lowe as a metaphor for his physical disability.