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Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Archaic Torso of Apollo'

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Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), the German-language poet born in Prague, wrote this sonnet in Paris and published it in 1908 in New Poems. It describes an ancient Greek statue of Apollo that has lost its head and limbs, yet seems to glow and to look back at the viewer from every part of its body. After thirteen lines of close looking, the poem ends with this sudden command. The philosopher Peter Sloterdijk took the line as the title of his 2009 book about how people shape their lives through practice and training.

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Hayatını değiştirmelisin.
Rainer Maria Rilke, “Arkaik Apollon Torsosu”

Prag doğumlu, Almanca yazan şair Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), bu soneyi Paris'te yazdı ve 1908'de Yeni Şiirler'de yayımladı. Şiir, başı, kolları ve bacakları kopmuş, ama yine de ışıldıyor ve bedeninin her yerinden izleyiciye bakıyormuş gibi görünen antik bir Yunan Apollon heykelini anlatır. On üç dize boyunca dikkatle bakılan heykelden sonra şiir bu ani buyrukla biter. Filozof Peter Sloterdijk, insanların hayatlarını alıştırma ve pratikle nasıl biçimlendirdiğini anlatan 2009 tarihli kitabına bu dizeyi ad olarak verdi.

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Background reading: Archaic Torso of Apollo
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