ABSTRACT
It can be seen, then, that Rilke's development as a young poet, from his earliest efforts in Leben und Lieder to the achieved mastery of the Neue Gedichte, offers a rare example of slowly acquired craftsmanship. To trace this transition is to trace the curve of his artistic growth: from Jugendstil 'line' to sculptural 'surface', from the organic image to the created thing. Yet before we can follow this curve, before we can consider how these very different perspectives can come from the same pen, we must alter our interrogative angle: aside from the 'how', the 'what' and the 'when', we must examine 'why'. Why was Rilke so preoccupied with images of process, with concepts of growth and becoming?
