What is a Ding-Gedicht in Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry?

In the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, a Ding-Gedicht (or "object poem") is a specific style of lyric poetry developed during his years in Paris.1

The primary goal of the Ding-Gedicht is to capture the "plastic essence" of a physical object. Rather than focusing on the poet's internal emotional state, these poems treat their subjects—which may include works of visual art, landscapes, portraits, or mythological themes—with the objective, detached perspective of a painter.1

These works, most notably collected in his Neue Gedichte (New Poems, 1907–08), represented a significant departure from traditional German lyric poetry. Rilke utilized a highly refined and subtle language to transform these objects into art, a process he once described as "making objects out of fear". While these poems exhibit great worldly elegance, they remain deeply rooted in the poet's own emotional and moral engagement with his work.1