Analyzing Rainer Marie Wilkes's The Panther

In only three short stanzas Rainer Marie Wilkes takes us on a trip to the zoo in his poem “The Panther”. This is not just any ordinary outing, for this is a special one. Once in a while readers read something great that bypasses the brain and goes straight into the heart and soul. In this well narrated poem, readers feel just that. This story is written beautifully and is wonderfully imaginative in a very unique way. Sometimes as human beings people get comfortable and get used to a cycle. Readers become trapped in their own world, and although we yearn to break free and be wild, there is always something holding us back, whether it is our anxiety, fears or financial situation. In the panther’s case, it is bars. The poem is more than just a story about a panther it is about relatable life circumstances. Rainer Maria Wilkes takes us on a heartfelt journey emphasizes freedom and entrapment, symbolism and a unique style of writing.

Upon opening the reader’s hearts, the poet unlocks the

cage. As the cat stands in this confined space, he is cramped. There is not enough room for his big stout physic. Rainer Marie Rilke states, “He paces in cramped circles, over and over,” (line 5) giving his readers the impression that this is a repetitive relentless cycle. No matter what; day in and day out, he is forced to pace in confinement. This panther, as with most, is not meant to be tamed. He is meant to roam. He is meant to whisper deep in the jungle where the trees sing songs of freedom and power amongst every slight wind blow. Instead the panther is not in his natural habitat. He
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is not free. His eagerness to fulfill his destiny is ripped from him and this has now become his ritual dance. He will not be able to dance with the wind as he should. He will not be able to brush against the bush following his calling as the wind goes. Although this is his desolate sentencing, he strides back and forth refusing to be tamed.
Panthers are known for power and protection, yet this one in particular symbolizes something different. “As he paces in cramped circles, over and over, /
the movement of his powerful soft strides,” Wilkes (Lines 5-6) The poet presents the caged panther as a figure of tragedy, invoking terror and pity.

The poet uses a caged carnivorous cat as a symbol of the roar inside of us. This panther is not true to his purpose, while he is enclosed living in solitude with no emotion left in his soul. As humans, we can easily relate to the feeling of not being true to our own fulfillment, and empathize with the panther’s dilemma. The animal lives inside of our souls awaiting just one opportunity to escape and reveal our true meaning in this world. He is longing for just one desolate moment of freedom. It is as if he was in our very own conscious. His emerald green eyes have grown weary with age. Once they were used to envision endless landscapes of room to roam free. Now all they see are thousands of bars. Endless, relentless, bars. We also may experience life different than we envisioned it when we were young, wild and

free.
His language and style of writing allows readers to look inside their own life situations, which is incredibly powerful for Wilkes to accomplish. After translating that the animal’s natural senses are diminishing, the poet brings readers into the soul of the panther saying “An image enters in, / rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, / plunges into the heart and
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is gone.” (Lines 10-12) Wilkes. Images have surfaced in the mind; sometimes they disintegrate and displace themselves in reader’s bodies. The panther tries to surface images, yet they evaporate like a tear on the cheek, back into the core of the body, that then trickle into his heart, full of darkness allowing no light to illuminate the idea any longer. Wilkes used such a diverse writing technique that opened hearts and mind, symbolized freedom and did it in a graceful relatable way. Eventually readers find that the panther was in fact never in a cage, but in their very own soul. He was within their mind becoming their thoughts and ultimately becoming one with them. What a beautiful sympathetic explanation of the untamed animals inside of us.