This study investigates Rilke's rose lyrics within the context of traditional rose poetry originating in the Scriptures, Greek, Latin, medieval and romantic poetry. Because roses in literature are invariably relegated to the realm of symbols, the work begins with an analysis of symbols and metaphors in their fundamental relationship. Whereas the symbolic rose is reduced to a plucked object of possession, the metaphoric rose transcends this negation, as is evident in Rilke's last rose poem, the epitaph.
