“The eighth elegy” by Rainer Maria Rilke is a long reflection on the human condition. An elegy is a lament for the dead, which, in this case, is humanity. Throughout his poem, Rilke states that there is a disparity between the lives of animals and humans. Rilke argues that we are too absorbed in the nature of understanding. In his first stanza, he argues that humans have captured reality in order to package it and assign material value to it. However, animals live on the opposite side of this reality. There is no concept of understanding in the animal world and so they exist without being haunted by the past or discouraged by the future. I will argue that throughout “The Eighth Elegy,” Rilke reveals that the distance between humans is not a gain, but a loss, due to our separation from our true nature. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayRilke begins and ends his poem with the idea that there has been a loss when it comes to humans and the humanity: “Never, not for a single day, do we have before us this pure space where it flourishes/opens to infinity. . . “We constantly suffer from an emptiness that plagues the material world. Rilke accentuates this gap in his comparisons between humans and animals. In the first stanza, Rilke's use of unusual capital letters emphasizes this point: animals exist in "the Open," that almost mythological place where there are no constructs or limitations. Contrary to this, humans live in the "World" which acts as a representation of modern materialism. The only times we can return to our true nature and touch upon the freedom of the “Open” is when we are close to birth, death, or love. Rilke uses children as an example of those who are not yet afraid. “A child can wander there for hours…and be shaken.” » The expression "shaken" reveals the marked difference between the "Open" and the "World". “People on their deathbed are another example. “For when death approaches, we do not see death; but look beyond, perhaps with the vast gaze of an animal. » Rilke says that although our mortality bothers us, those who are close to death no longer see their own fear. Lovers are also placed in this category of people who "are close to it and marvel" at the "Open", but who stop because of the presence of the "World." » Capitalizing the words “World” and “Open” is reminiscent of how we capitalize the word God in the Bible and other religious literature. Rilke uses this literary technique to allude to the fact that the Open is closer to God while the World is separate from him. The Open and the World are those conceptualized places that illustrate the differences between humans and animals. Rilke writes “The Eighth Elegy” in a fluid but powerful manner. Although there are cases of periods, it sets up the majority of text with commas. This grammatical choice gives the poem a continuous effect. The abundance of commas also makes short sentences even more impactful. “We’re making arrangements. It breaks down / We rearrange it, then we break ourselves. » Rilke uses the flow of his sentences to attract the reader, but then he immediately calls out to us. “We see the future, it sees all the time. » “Free from death. / We alone can see death…” Rilke’s similes make more points about the nature of humanity than about animal existence. The way we see animals, the things we.