Question about Greek Mythology

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1

I was reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s collected poems tonight, and I was very much enjoying his Geburt der Venus (The Birth of Venus). It’s everything I have come to expect from the story of the birth of Venus, but it takes a strange turn at the end when she comes ashore from the sea:

Am Mittag aber, in der schwersten Stunde,
hob sich das Meer noch einmal auf und warf
einen Delphin an jene selbe Stelle.
Tot, rot und offen.

But at noon, in the heaviest hour,
the sea rose up once more and threw
a dolphin on that same spot.
Dead, red, and open.

(Trans. Edward Snow)

Now my question: is this part with the dolphin shooting out of the sea and dying on the ground where she came ashore part of the original myth? I haven’t been able to find references to this anywhere but in this poem.

Thanks in advance for any help.

WB

2

I’ve never heard the dolphin reference. In Hesiod’s Theogony, Aphrodite is born of the sea from, um, the recently removed testicles of Uranus.

I’m surprised to see her associated with a dead dolphin. I believe it was a crime to kill dolphins, they were often associated with Apollo (He could take the form of one, not sure which story that was from).

3

Rilke is probably adding something new to the story, and making a comment about the perceived relationship between Passion and Reason. Passion seems to destroy rational thought.

4

Hello Antianira, I was surprised by the dead dolphin as well. It was a jarring way to end the poem, and it made no sense in relation to what I know about Greek mythology. (I was going to wait until I was better at Greek to try Hesiod - now I think I will at least pick up an English translation in the meantime.)

And hello, Rindu-- your comments are helpful. I like your take – it makes sense – and I’m going to reread the poem with your interpretation in mind.

Thanks guys.

WB

5

Maybe it’s some sort of…Phallic image. Dolphins are usually associated with Dionysus and Apollo, right?

6

But dolphins are also associated with Aphrodite, aren’t they?

7

Dolphins are associated with the birth of Venus and Cupid riding on a dolphin accompanying Venus is a common image . e.g. the Medici Venus .
I couldn’t find any mention of a dead dolphin though. I suspect it is an image adopted by Rilke associating sex and death which is a dominant theme in late romantic poetry see especially Baudelaire and Swinburne.