Rilke and Carpe Don’t Rhyme

2 May 2025

Episode 5.14 – Rilke and Carpe Don’t Rhyme

Finding carpe diem in art and literature; abandoning “seize the day” and ending in uncertainty.

What is required of us to find the power and meaning in art? in poetry? Is it related to carpe diem? And does it give us any guidance in how to approach meaningful lives?

In a continuation of our carpe diem talk last episode, we return to Roman Krznaric, to Rainer Maria Rilke’s sonnet “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” and consider immanence, a kind of meaningfulness which “seize the day” might never discover.

Key Terms:

immanence – something, perhaps abstract or spiritual, which is contained entirely within an object (naturally, divinely, permanently)

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/andrew-marvell-coy-mistress/

CHAPTERS

00:00 The Mysteries of Art
05:47 Opening Theme
06:19 Merking “Seized”
13:58 Rilke: Broken Art & Potent Readings
24:07 Ethics Tests – A Reflection
30:03 So What Do We Carpe?
36:23 Outro and Credits

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Transcript: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-14-rilke-and-carpe-dont-rhyme

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What are your thoughts on our discussion? Email me: [email protected]

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

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