The work of poets and sculptors begins not with making but with looking, and this deepens not on the “glance” but on what Rilke called “the outward gaze.” Rilke realized that the inner form of life—in outward things; in nature; in language—reveals itself through that gaze, which is a way of “listening into” the heart of things. He nurtured this fascination alongside Rodin, the great French sculptor with whom Rilke lived and worked during the first decade of the 20th century.
The two shared a reverence for the life-force that courses through everything, things great and small. Both knew that the artist’s creativity—whether through the medium of language or stone—was to give form to what the “outward gaze” sees. This calls for the patience that allows beauty to show itself, above all in what might initially seem insignificant. This craft talk draws on Rilke’s relationship to Rodin, exploring the call to discover beauty at the heart of our life.
Cost: $35.
Mark S. Burrows is an award-winning poet and translator. He is also an editor, scholar, and much sought-after public speaker in this country and in the UK, Europe, and Australia. He is also one of the leading interpreters and translators of Rilke’s poetry and writings. In 2024 he published an award-winning translation of Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus; also that year he published a book co-authored by Stephanie Dowrick, You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (which was awarded a Nautilus Book Award). For the last four years he has hosted “Reading Rilke Today” on The Poets Corner. He lives and writes in Camden, Maine.