 Rilke depicted this infinite , transcendental beauty with the symbol of angels . However , he did not use the traditional Christian interpretation of angels . He sought to utilize a symbol of the angel that was secular , divorced from religious doctrine and embodied a tremendous transcendental beauty . In this , however , Rilke commented that he was greatly influenced by the depiction of angels found in Islam . For Rilke , the symbol of the angel represents a perfection that is " beyond human contradictions and limitations " in a " higher level of reality in the invisible . " Where there is incongruity that adds to mankind 's despair and anxiety is due to human nature keeping us clinging to the visible and the familiar . As mankind encounters the invisible and unknown higher levels represented by these angels , the experience of the invisible will be " terrifying " ( in German , <unk> ) . 
