This study of Rainer Maria Rilke 18751926 examines the poets understanding of the malleable nature of identity while addressing the question of Rilkes place in literary history. In line with contemporary literary theory which views the self as a societal construction and strategic narrative device this study explores Rilkes preoccupations with identity in his work as he investigates the disintegration of the subjective self in the modern world. Rilkes rereadings of the mythological figures of Orpheus and Narcissus in modern psychological terms as well as in terms of traditional poetics are keys not only to his poetics and his changing understanding of self but also to his evolving critique of society.