Wonder Wednesday

Rilke's "Archaic Torso of Apollo" Part II

Welcome back for part II of our close reading of Rilke’s superb poem. I hope you had a chance to read the poem again on your own (if not, go back and read it before I ramble on about it).

To begin, I like what critic Shimon Sandbank says about “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” that it “shows how the statue’s physical deterioration results in an enduring spiritu…