I. Rilke and the 20^th Century

a. The new patronage: Princess TNT
b. The new art: Rodin and others in Paris
c. 20th century history: on the verge of world war
d. New attitudes: bohemian vs. bureaucrat

II. Saying everything

a. the heightened rhetoric of modernism
b. emblematic poetry—the archaic torso of Apollo
c. the anti-bildungsroman—unmaking a man
d. "now the mirror had become the stronger"

III. Coping with modernity

a. "If drinking becomes bitter, turn to wine."
b. Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus
c. Poetic ontologies: Orphism vs. Eurydicism
d. Cultivating detachment—the new prodigal son

IV. Mysticism in the West

a. Eastern influences—gurus and pilgrims
b. Pop mysticism—on the road
c. Rilke as "the Santa Claus of loneliness"