Let This Darkness be a Bell Tower Rainer Rylke

I agree with Jordan's and Amaria's idea that the narrator of the poem is presenting the darkness is something that should be overcome and pushed through. I also think that the purpose is not just to overcome adversity or hardships, but to also have a voice and to have your voice be heard. In the ending lines "And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am", the narrator is basically saying to the audience that once you overcome your difficulties, it is then time to notice me once again. The use of the colon in this way tells us, the audience, that "I", or we, are the voice; we are the capable of overcoming hard times and becoming relevant. Your voice has to be heard by the world and you have to express yourself. After the fact of you overcoming depression, the next step is to manifest your strength and your power. The organization of the poem also lends credence to this idea. The whole poem leads up to this end point, a journey from battling depression, to overcoming it, and finally becoming a better person.

In Let this Darkness be a Belltower, by Rainer Maria Rilke, she makes a claim that whenever you are grieving something or someone, you can always turn “darkness” into a belltower. In this case that darkness happens to be a void, or something that could possibly be never ending, but Rolke is trying to make the point that any type of sadness or grief can be put to an end. She begins the poem, by saying, “Quiet friend…” this is to symbolize someone that has been knocked down so many times and is not sad, depressed or even lonely, the quietness of a “friend” is symbolizing how quiet people can be when they are sad or lonely. In line 4, it states, “...and you the bell. As you ring,...”, the second person pronoun, you in this sentence symbolizes the quiet person that the author is attempting to describe in this poem. Then when she says, “as you ring”, she is symbolizing how someone can allow their sadness and sorrow to “darkness”, to soon turn into something useful and positive “bell tower.” By the author using a bell tower to symbolize something positive, allows the reader to see how good a bell tower really is in life. The bell tower is usually found in churches and at the top of important buildings. The bell tower is what tells us the hour of the day, which is a very important part of life, being because time is everything, and everything is nothing without the presence of time.