Reflection

The European modernist poets use the inspiration of their surrounds to define themselves and their view of their society. The Greek poet C.P. Cavafy, though he lived in the twentieth century, is greatly influenced by ancient Greek lore. Rilke personifies living and non living images such as cats and statues. Pessoa writes through his heteronyms, he is also influenced greatly by his environment; his ideas are more abstract than those of Cavafy's and Rilke's.
Rainer Maria Rilke's work is a bridge between post-impressionist and modernist styles. A majority of his poems are composed of the traditional four line stanzas. Rilke uses images such as a panther to express ideas: "But sometimes the curtains of his eyelids part, / the pupils of his eyes dilate as images/ of past encounters enter while through his limbs/ a tension strains in silence/ only to cease to be, to die within his heart." In this stanza from the poem "The Panther" the great cat reveals its weariness of life experience held within its heart. This panther is both an object of nature and a metaphor for the very human conception of memory. Rilke’s panther is very reminiscent of Blake’s “Tyger, Tyger burning bright.” Rilke’s poems do not draw only from animals, in his poem “Going Blind” Rilke uses the image of a women to represent abstract ideas: “She followed slowly, taking a long time,/ as though there were some obstacle in the way;/ and yet: as though, once it was overcome,/ she would be beyond all walking, and would fly.”
In comparison to Rilke, Cavafy is influences by myth rather than by his current surroundings. In his poem “Ithaca” Cavafy uses the epic saga of Odysseus as a metaphor for a journey of self discovery and teach the meaning of home: “Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. /Without her you would have never set out on the road. /She has nothing more to give you. /And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. /Wise as you have become, with so much experience, /you must already have understood what Ithaca means.” Cavafy’s poems are organized in a way very similar to the epic Greek poems, the stanzas are long and sentences are divided. In anther poem entitled “The Alexandrian Kings” Cavafy uses the characters to express stagnation: “Caesarion was full of grace and beauty /and the Alexandrians rushed to the ceremony, /and got enthusiastic and cheered /although they full well knew what all these were worth, /what hollow words these kingships were.” Cavafy many be suggesting in this poem that falsity is part of human nature and has been seen throughout human history.
Pessoa writes very moody poetry. Pessoa is famous for his heteronyms, but these are not readily available in English translation. His poetry has a feel of movement to it, one poem called “Seen from the Train” describes what may be the speaker’s soul chasing the train, Pessoa’s other poems have the imagery of movement and distance. Pessoa, compared to Cavafy and Rilke, is very abstract the next step in modernism.

Poems

C.P. Cavafy
Monotony
Trojans
Alexandrian kings
Ithaca
As Much as You Can
Rilke
Adam
Black Cat
Going Blind
The Panther
The Swam
Self Portrait
Pessoa
Alentejo Seen From The Train
I am the escaped one
Meantime
On An Ankle