Gedichte.

by Rainer Maria Rilke, Dietrich Bode (Editor)

Though as yet little known in English-speaking countries, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the finest German poet of this century and one of the greatest lyrical writers in the history of Western literature. A major figure in the modernist movement, with some affinities to Yeats, Rilke had a profound influence on other 20th century poets such as Pasternak and Akhmatova. He is a master of vivid and breathtakingly original imagery in which difficult ideas are made directly apprehensible to the reader and new worlds of experience are opened up. This selection includes poems from all stages of his career, beginning with the delicate works of his early years, through the extraordinary poems he wrote in French (which he used like a first language) and concluding with his mature masterpieces: the SONNETS TO ORPHEUS and the DUINO ELEGIES. Also included are Rilke's prose LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET in which he counsels a younger colleague and expounds his own literary ideal. This is by far the most comprehensive selection from this poet in English and forms an ideal introduction to this work.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, German Literature, Fiction, Literature, Germany, Art

324 pages, Taschenbuch

First published August 28, 1978

About the author

A mystic lyricism and precise imagery often marked verse of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, whose collections profoundly influenced 20th-century German literature and include The Book of Hours (1905) and The Duino Elegies (1923).

People consider him of the greatest 20th century users of the language.

His haunting images tend to focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety — themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.

His two most famous sequences include the Sonnets to Orpheus , and his most famous prose works include the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge .

He also wrote more than four hundred poems in French, dedicated to the canton of Valais in Switzerland, his homeland of choice.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking up from my book, from the close countable lines
into the finished-full night outside:
how in starry measure my packed feelings scatter,
as though a bouquet of wildflowers
were being untied…

One needs only to thumb through any book of Rilke’s poetry for a mere minute to find a line or stanza that will captivate their heart and mind. Considered by many to be the preeminent German language poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) has left us with a dazzling collection of poetry and prose that can make anyone believe in the power and glory of language.

Rose, oh pure contradiction, joy
of being No-one's sleep under so many
lids.
-Rilke’s epitaph

I decided to investigate Rilke after his Duino Elegies were so highly praised and alluded to in Pynchon’s Gravity's Rainbow, particularly the eerie 8th Elegy. Ludwig Wittgenstein was another to openly admire Rilke in his writings, and the novel Wittgenstein’s Mistress contained a wealth of facts about the poet. With so many references to him in such a short span of time, how could I not own the complete collection of his poetry? After spending the summer reading through the great Wittgenstein investigating the deficiencies of language, Rilke illuminates the potency and remarkable versatility of language.

Rilke explores the human heart and extracts our emotions into perfectly crafted imagery. Roses, angels and the heavens appear throughout the majority of his work, yet each time appearing fresh and fulfilling. A major selling point for this edition is that it includes a vast assortment of his body of work, including the full text of his most famous Duino Elegies and his Sonnets To Orpheus. I can’t speak any more highly of this poet, as nothing I can say will do him the justice his poetry will. I simply recommend this to anyone with even the slightest interest in poetry. Within the lines of his poems, you will find images and metaphor that will take your breath away.

5/5

-My life is not this steeply sloping hour,
in which you see me hurrying.
Much stands behind me; I stand before it like a tree;
I am only one of my many mouths,
and at that, the one that will be still the soonest.

I am the rest between two notes,
which are somehow always in discord
because Death’s note wants to climb over—
but in the dark interval, reconciled,
they stay there trembling.
And the song goes on, beautiful.

Love Song
How should I keep my soul
from touching yours? How shall I
lift it up beyond you to other things?
Ah, I would gladly hide it
in darkness with something lost
in some silent foreign place
that doesn’t tremble when your deeps stir.
Yet whatever touches you and me
blends us together the way a bow’s stroke
draws one voice from two strings.
Across what instrument are we stretched taut?
And what player holds us in his hand?
O sweet song.

Falling Stars
Do you still remember: falling stars,
How they leapt slantwise through the sky
Like horses over suddenly held-out hurdles
Of our wishes – did we have so many? -
For stars, innumerable, leapt everywhere;
Almost every gaze upward became
Wedded to the swift hazard of their play,
And our heart felt like a single thing
Beneath that vast disintegration of their brilliance-
And was whole, as if it would survive them!


-Again and agan, even though we know love’s landscape
and the little churchyard with its lamenting names
and the terrible reticent gorge in which the others
end: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lay ourselves down again and again
among the flowers, and look up into the sky.


Autumn Day
Lord: it is time. The summer was immense.
Lay your long shadows on the sundials,
and on the meadows let the winds go free.
Command the last fruits to be full;
give them just two more southern days,
urge them on to completion and chase
the last sweetness into the heavy wine.
Who has no house now, will never build one.
Who is alone now, will long remain so,
will stay awake, read, write long letters
and will wander restlessly up and down
the tree-lines streets, when the leaves are drifting.


The Lovers
See how in their veins all becomes spirit:
into each other they mature and grow.
Like axles, their forms tremblingly orbit,
round which it whirls, bewitching and aglow.
Thirsters, and they receive drink,
watchers, and see: they receive sight.
Let them into one another sink
so as to endure each other outright

Ignorant Before the Heavens of my Life
Ignorant before the heavens of my life,
I stand and gaze in wonder. Oh the vastness
of the stars. Their rising and descent. How still.
As if I didn't exist. Do I have any
share in this? Have I somehow dispensed with
their pure effect? Does my blood's ebb and flow
change with their changes? Let me put aside
every desire, every relationship
except this one, so that my heart grows used to
its farthest spaces. Better that it live
fully aware, in the terror of its stars, than
as if protected, soothed by what is near.

[Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite poet, with Emily Dickinson. I am tempted to compare Rilke's poetry with Chopin's music: Timeless, light, happy, romantic.
My book is full of post-its, marking poems I would like to re-read.

In dieser Sammlung erkundet Rilke Themen wie Liebe, Tod, Natur und die menschliche Existenz. Seine Gedichte zeichnen sich oft durch ihre intensive emotionale Tiefe und ihre Fähigkeit aus, die Essenz komplexer Emotionen und Erfahrungen zu erfassen.
Eine der bemerkenswertesten Aspekte von Rilkes Poesie ist seine Sprache. Er war ein Meister der Metapher und des Symbols und seine Bildsprache ist oft atemberaubend schön. Er experimentierte auch mit Form, indem er freie Verse und unkonventionelle Zeilenbrüche verwendete, um einen einzigartigen Rhythmus und Fluss zu schaffen.
Insgesamt ist "Die Gedichte" eine bemerkenswerte Gedichtsammlung, die Rilkes immenses Talent und tiefe Einsichten in die menschliche Erfahrung zeigt. Es ist ein Muss für jeden, der sich für Poesie und Literatur interessiert, und es inspiriert und beeinflusst Leser bis zum heutigen Tag.

[Danilo Scardamaglio · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'edizione raccoglie le opere della maturità poetica di Rilke: Poesie Nuove, Elegie Duinesi, Sonetti a Orfeo e poesie sparse.
Rilke è un monolite ottocentesco nel primo quarto di Novecento, una reazione densa e sofferta ai contemporanei movimenti culturali, un sintetizzatore e condensatore di diverse e molteplici influenze del XIX secolo. Queste influenze si diramano nella poesia rilkiana in differenti modi, plasmando un canto in superficie originale proprio per quest'originale miscelanza: ma se svisceriamo la poesia rilkiana e ne analizziamo gli elementi fondanti, si nota una certa mancanza di innovatività, un certo posarsi su modelli e schemi preesistenti e già rodati.
Inoltre, se è possibile parlare in modo così omogeneo della poesia rilkiana, ciò deriva dalla sostanziale compattezza (e anche di una certa ripetitività) delle opere, sia per temi che, principalmente, per stile e tono: un canto aulico, solenne, corposo e complesso, seppure turbato da un sincero e genuino dolore che quando affiora nel suo più autentico grido, come nel caso delle Elegie Duinesi, plasma qualcosa di estremamente perturbante. Per quel che riguarda i temi, il fulcro assoluto della poesia è l'assenza di Dio, un continuo ed assordante lamentarsi della sua scomparsa e della conseguente solitudine assoluta a cui l'uomo è costretto, non soltanto in senso metafisico ma anche umano e sociale, che comporta anche la constatazione della sicura fallibilità dell'amore. Di qui, l'uomo è costretto a muoversi in una dimensione, quella spaziale-apparente, che non lo accetta e che lo riconosce come corpo estraneo: flagellato da una condizione esistenziale impossibile, l'unica salvezza resta il canto, qualche raro sorriso sparso nel nostro cammino, e soprattutto la morte, unico muro alla sofferenza.
Nella prima raccolta, le Poesie Nuove, il sostrato poetico è in formazione, e la poesia molto più frammentaria: l'attenzione di Rilke è nel sollevare la coltre semantica quotidiana e automatica che oggetti e miti possiedono, e rileggerli nella loro vera essenza simbolico-spirituale. Spesso in questo processo si avverte una sostanziale artificiosità, e quando si scopre il processo d'analisi ontologica del poeta le poesie diventano molto ridondanti.
Il vero capolavoro rilkiano sono sicuramente le Elegie Duinesi: prive di artificiosità e astrusità inutili, seppure il verso si faccia più ermetico e l'immagine più complessa, sono un canto di continua sofferenza, un viscerale urlo di ribellione all'assenza di una qualsivoglia prospettiva escatologica in questo mondo silente. Ciò comporta un continuo ripiegamento e raccoglimento, una costante e graduale negazione dell'apparente, e un ossessivo pensiero di morte, unica vera dimensione salvifica.
I Sonetti ad Orfeo sono invece la più nietzschiana tra le opere di Rilke, essendo profondamente intrise di apollineo-dionisiaco. Il verso diventa più esile, più snello che nelle elegie, e il centro della raccolta diviene ovviamente Orfeo, il simbolo universale del poeta, scisso come il poeta stesso tra vita e morte, ma il cui canto plasma e forma il mondo e persiste nella natura e nella roccia. L'insondabilità del destino umano, soprattutto nella seconda parte della raccolta, è motivo alla tristezza del canto, che tuttavia a volte è troppo artificioso, altre un po' patetico: ma quando questi sentimenti non sovrastano il verso, Rilke possiede una chiarezza ed una grazia che forse ho letto solo in Silesio.

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of the poems, but much didn't work for me. There is a reason poetry usually comes out in small volumes. It isn't meant to be consumed in huge chunks in collected works. This is just too overwhelming to process. Maybe I will come back to individual parts later

[Antje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich zweifle, ob ich eines Tages gänzlich warm werde mit Rilkes Lyrik. So wirken in dieser bunten Zusammenstellung zahlreiche Gedichte auf mich oberflächlich, ohne glaubhaftes Interesse des Dichters an dem von ihm gewählten Thema.

Zum Beispiel besingt er in zwei Gedichten blaue und rosafarbene Hortensien. Er versucht zwar die Freude mit seinen Lesern zu teilen, wie sich neue zarte blaue Blüten aus verwaschenen Farben hervorkämpfen, aber auch sie wirkt teilnahmslos. Vermutlich gefielen ihm die rosa Blüten besser, gelingt ihm die Beschreibung hier überzeugender, wenn auch leicht schwülstig. Trotzdem frage ich mich am Ende, wieso hat er Hortensien als sein Sujet gewählt?

Dennoch entdeckte ich, dass Rilke bei seinen erotischen Themen die stärksten Momente hat. Man stelle sich in seinem "Taglied" sein Bett als Küstenstreifen vor, auf dem er in wahren Schwindel beim Anblick der Brüste seiner Geliebten gerät. Doch seine von Sinnlichkeit überschäumte Wahrnehmung verstärkt sich noch in Versen wie diesen …

"Man müßte so sich ineinanderlegen
wie Blütenblätter um die Staubgefäße:
so sehr ist überall das Ungemäße
und häuft sich an und stürzt sich uns entgegen."

Nur leider überfällt ihn dann erneut die Schwermut und er zerstört dieses wunderbare Bild mit Wörtern wie "doch" und "Verrat" - Ich glaube, hier liegt vermutlich mein generelles Problem mit Herrn Rilke. Er ist mir einfach zu ernst, zu pessimistisch, zu melancholisch und manchmal, ja, auch eine Spur zu schwulstbeladen.

Die Auswahl der 88 Gedichte ist durchwachsen und scheint willkürlich. Die Themen reichen von Liebe, Verlangen, Religion, Trauer und Abschied bis zu Naturbetrachtungen, wobei seine Poeme von schwächelnder, mittelmäßiger bis gelungener und hervorragender Natur sind. - Ich möchte Herrn Rilke nicht Unrecht tun, aber seine Dichtkunst erreicht nicht mein Herz.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manchmal habe ich Skrupel einen Review zu schreiben angesichts der überwältigenden Tiefe und literarischen Qualität der Einsichten mit mir befreundeter Goodreads Leser. Ähnlich geht es mir, wenn ich etwas zu den Werken der Meister sagen soll. Und darum handelt es sich bei den Gedichten von Rainer Maria Rilke. Was mir übrig bleibt, ist mein persönliches Empfinden zu schildern.

Diese Antologie von Gedichten ist ziemlich willkürlich, zumindest habe ich den roten Faden nicht gefunden. Sie enthält aber einige großartige Werke, die ich ausdrucken und an meine Wände heften möchte, so dass ich sie ständig vor Augen habe. "Liebeslied", "Herbsttag" und der mir schon seit Schulzeiten bekannte "Panther" sind meine Favouriten. Aber auch unter den anderen, weniger bekannten sind viele, in denen ich bei jedem Lesen immer etwas Neues finde.

Der Grund, weshalb ich nicht alle 5 Sterne verteilt habe ist die Auswahl und jene Werke, die mir nicht zusagten bzw. zu denen ich keinen Zugang gefunden habe. Ich kann mich nicht des Eindrucks erwehren, dass Rilke einige Gedichte als Auftragsarbeiten oder Gefälligkeit geschrieben hat.

[Myricae ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me lo rigiravo fra le mani da tempo, forse perché ogni poesia era un messaggio, per me è per ogni altro evento della vita che in quest’ultimo anno mi è passata attraverso insegnandomi di tutto.

È stato come rinascere, nel dolore e nella sfida... è stato come riscoprire sé stessi e a questo volume tuo sono grata.

Rilke ti fa innamorare delle parole, questo è sicuro.
Dietro ogni verso c’è sempre qualcosa di più, come un ineffabile magia impossibile da afferrare davvero ✨

[Pavelas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vietoj apžvalgos nusprendžiau parašyti Rilkės eilėraščio interpretaciją. Eilėraštis - žemiau, o po juo - mano vertinimas.

Malda

Naktie, kur tartum seserys namie
daiktai - balti, margi, raudoni - būva
vienoj ramybėj ir tamsoj, naktie
tyli, mane taip pat suliek į krūvą
su miriadais, tavyje ramintis
ir prisiglaust atėjusiais. Ar mintys
per daug man žaidžia su šviesa?
Ar aš esu kitoks, negu visa
aplinkinė rimtis - ar ji nelanko
dar mano veido? Spręsk iš rankų:
Ar neguli kaip įnagis ir daiktas?
Ar ne kuklus ant piršto žiedas
ir tu ne taip man žiburiu apšvietus
rankas, lyg būtų jos keliai, kurie
vienodai ir prieš saulę vakare,
ir į žvaigždėtą tamsumą šakojas?

Šiose eilėse Rilkė užčiuopia Upanišadose ir kai kurių vakarų filosofų darbuose gvildenamus filosofinius klausimus. Pagrindinė eilėraščio problema - subjekto/objekto perskyra. Objektas yra daiktai, kurie pasinėrė į naktį, o subjektas - herojus, kuris svarsto, ar gali susilieti su daiktais į viena. Viena vertus, jo ranka tamsoje atrodo lygiai taip pat, kaip ir visi aplinkiniai daiktai: “Ar neguli kaip įnagis ir daiktas?” Kita vertus, aktyvi sąmonė išskiria subjektą iš aplinkinio pasaulio, dekartiškasis cogito neleidžia subjektui susilieti su objektu: “Ar mintys per daug man žaidžia su šviesa?”. Tamsos ir šviesos metafora neatsitiktinė. Upanišadose miegas be sapnų laikomas būsena, kada subjektas susilieja su objektu, nes sąmonė yra tuščia ir neleidžia pasireikšti subjektiškumui. Neabejotina, kad Rilkė buvo skaitęs Upanišadas ar bent Schopenhauerį, kuris jomis plačiai rėmėsi kurdamas savo sistemą. Labiausiai eilėraštis stebina dėl to, kad keliose eilutėse metaforiškai atskleidžia problemas, kurias filosofai pilstydami iš tuščio į kiaurą dėsto šimtuose puslapių. Nuo pat domėjimosi filosofija pradžios maniau, kad filosofų tekstai perdėm ir bereikalingai sudėtingi ir ilgi. Rilkės eilėraštis yra pavyzdys, kaip filosofines koncepcijas galima pateikti estetiškai grakščiai, buitine kalba ir labai koncentruotai. Pakartosiu tai, ką jau minėjau prie Gombrowicz’iaus knygos apžvalgos - reikia patikėti rašytojams užduotį išversti filosofiją į žmonių kalbą. Taip pat atsiimu savo žodžius, kad filosofijos inkorporavimas į grožinę literatūrą nėra geras sumanymas. Šis Rilkės eilėraštis man patiko visokeriopai.

Baigsiu apžvalgą kitu Rilkės eilėraščiu, kuris, matyt, interpretacijų nereikalauja:

***
Kūdikystės daiktus vėl pamatę,
matom ir laikų gelmes:
mums atrodė, kad praeina metai,
o praėjom iš tiesų tik mes.

[Tarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natürlich ist Rilke einer der großartigsten Dichter, den die deutsche Sprache je gesehen hat. Aber Gesamtwerke sind tückisch: da ist ganz viel Ausschussware, Versuche, die misslingen, schlimme Reime... Die Duineser Elegien, Sonette an Orpheus, viele der einzelnen Gedichte aus den anderen Bänden sind großartig, aber man ist mit einer Best-Of-Auswahl als Genussleser besser bedient.

[Gediminas Kontrimas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rilkė. Ką čia bepridėsi. Vertė geras poetas Juškaitis, geras vertėjas Tomas V., geras Geda...Vilučio viršelis itin tinka. Skaičiau ir vokiškai. Visai kita muzika.

[Karla Ortiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

sollozando mientras pretendo que me las escribió a mi

[Sajid · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Work of the eyes is done,
begin heart-work now
on those images in you, those captive ones;
for you overpowered them: but you don’t yet know them.
Behold, inner man, your inner woman,
she who was won
from a thousand natures, she
the till now only won,
as yet never loved creation”.

This is the book to which you should go when you are spirituality drained. I mean why not anyone would search for something beautiful like Rilke's poems. This man,Rilke,was surely a poetic genius. He had an immense level of inner experience and a sharp inner eye that could see through even the most familiar or daily things something profound. His poems are mostly about human loneliness, spiritual longing, submission and love. But the peculiar fact is that in every of his poem there must be a subtle mood of loneliness and solitude. Though it is very hard to explain the expression of his whole mood throughout those poems,we can get easily connected with him at the personal level,as well as in a universal level,as mostly those poems indicate the condition of whole humanity rooted together in a collective history. Rilke is also known as “the santa claus of loneliness ”. So you can measure by this what kind of impact he is going to make on you. Talking about my experience, i am usually a lonely man;whenever i write any poem it is mostly about loneliness. So reading Rilke gave me another blow to bend toward loneliness another round. Two or three months back i read his selected poems and now i have almost finished all of his poems. So you can see i loved his work so much. Besides,with him i could relate to so much. Next i will read his Letters to a young poet. My final words would be: read Rilke,love solitude and be creative.

“What will you do, God, when I die?
I am your jug (and I will shatter)
I am your drink (and I’ll go bad)
I am your clothing and your calling,
you’ll lose all reason, losing me.
With me gone, you’ll have no house
where warm words will welcome you.
Without me, you’ll have no sandals:
your exhausted feet will wander bare.
Your mighty cloak will fall away.
Your gaze, which my cheek took in
soft and warm, like a pillow,
will arrive here, look, search long—
and finally at the end of sunset
lie down in the lap of alien stones.
What will you do, God? I’m afraid”.

“I am, you anxious one. Don’t you hear me
surging against you with all my senses?
My feelings, which have found wings, circle
like white birds around your face.
And my soul—can’t you see it there
standing before you in a robe of silence?
Doesn’t my springtime prayer
ripen in your eyes as on a tree?
If you are the dreamer, I am your dream.
But if you choose to be awake, I am your will
and become the master of all majesty
and round to perfect stillness like a star
over the far-off city of time”.

[Eleonora · Rating 4 out of 5]

'ma se una buia armonia penetra l'anima
appari tu bianca ai paesi autunnali del mio cuore'.

era da tanto che non mi scioglievo per un verso,
era da tanto che non sentivo qualcosa di veramente forse leggendo una poesia,
grazie Rilke, avevo bisogno di questa scossa...💘

[holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

the "when will, when will, when will it be enough..." poem was actually ghostwritten by florence welch 64 years prior to her earthly birth...no further questions!!

[Chinook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read Rilke once before. I can't remember much about the poetry or even if I liked it much. What I remember is that I bought it at Kyobo, a giant chain store with a big English section and that they would stamp the pages with a little bird to indicate you'd purchased it there. And I remember that I read the book, Letters to a Young Poet, on the Seoul subway in the summer, because I can still remember the chill of the metal seats from the air conditioning.

This book is an example of why I don't generally read much poetry. The first half is just introduction and it's that kind of talking about poetry that reads to me like complete nonsense. The second half, with Rilke's actual poems, was better but most of it didn't do much of anything for me. I wonder if part of the disconnect is that I have little interest in religion and Rilke clearly did.

[Amaranta · Rating 3 out of 5]

io sono la rugiada, il giorno,
ma tu, tu sei la pianta” .



L’Amore e il ciclo delle stagioni che si rinnova e con esso dona nuovo impulso. La terra, madre di tutto come simbolo di tutto. Ci sono momenti di bellezza nel testo, ma non sono riuscita ad entrare perfettamente in sintonia con esso


“ Giorno d’autunno

Signore: è tempo. Grande era l’arsura.
Deponi l’ombra sulle meridiane,
libera il vento sopra la pianura.
Fa’ che sia colmo ancora il frutto estremo;
concedi ancora un giorno di tepore,
che il frutto giunga a maturare, e spremi
nel grave vino l’ultimo sapore.
Chi non ha casa adesso, non l’avrà.
Chi è solo a lungo solo dovrà stare,
leggere nelle veglie, e lunghi fogli
scrivere, e incerto sulle vie tornare
dove nell’aria fluttuano le foglie.

APOLLO PRIMITIVO

Come talvolta in mezzo ai rami ancora
spogli un mattino sorge, e in quel momento
è primavera"

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems I don't love are usually ones I don't 'get'. The poems I love are among the most exquisite I've ever read. Astonishingly beautiful.

[Guilherme Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosa, ó pura contradição, prazer
de ser o sono de ninguém sob tantas
pálpebras.

[Margaryta · Rating 3 out of 5]

If after finishing “Letter to a Young Poet” I was sure I knew what Rilke was talking about and thought him to be a wise man, then after reading his poems I found myself a bit on the fence. His style was, at times, quite heavy and quite enamoured with its own wording and ideas, going off on mini tangents and personal conversations that were difficult to follow. There were some poems however that were absolutely beautiful, from start to finish. Whether they were one of the shorter ones or a not, some of Rilke’s poems were moving and enchanting. I found myself not a big fan of his more “traditional” works, poems that has a lot of Biblical/religious themes, or which followed the third-person general/sweeping kind of tone. His work takes some warming up to as well as several reads in order for the full scope of his talent to be appreciated. There is certainly something enjoyable in his poems, even if it was hard to read more than a few at a time before getting antsy.

[Bee · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are interested in the artistic development of Rainer Maria Rilke then this book gives you a competent guide. The author explains a lot in prose but unfortunately there are not a lot of examples of the poets poems which is a shame.

I am not sure about the quality of the translations: As being German speaking I have been reading Rilke in German for many years. In German his words have a certain melody which I can not find in the translations. But I have also been translating poems from German into English and some things just can not be said in the other language. It seems to me that translating poetry is a lot more difficult than translating prose.

If you want to know about the poet and his development this is a very good book to start with. The chosen poems give a good overview over his work and might give you a taste for more.

[Fabiola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apollo primitivo

Come talvolta in mezzo ai rami ancora
spogli un mattino sorge, e in quel momento
è primavera: così nulla affiora
dal suo capo, che il subito portento

della poesia non ci ferisca; il muro
d’ombra è lontano dal suo sguardo incauto
troppo fresca è la fonte per il lauro,
e solo tardi all’arco delle pure

sue sopracciglia sorgerà il rosaio,
da cui foglie cadute e sparse il lieve
tremito della bocca veleranno,

quella che tace adesso e accenna solo
a un sorriso da cui nitida beve
il canto come un’acqua nella gola.

[dinfna xxx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rilettura necessaria in questo momento di tempesta.

[oscar wilde to nawet nie jest on · Rating 2 out of 5]

czytałam te książkę z podwójnym cierpieniem - po pierwsze mój egzemplarz ma 50 lat a ja alergię na kurz, po drugie jakieś 90% wierszy zupełnie do mnie nie przemówiło (elegie - podobno jego najwybitniejsze utwory - były szczególną mordęgą). natomiast te kilka, które mi się spodobały, oczarowały mnie zupełnie

ulubione: pantera, odejście syna marnotrawnego, pieśń abelone, ty zawczasu utracona..

I jeszcze:

Wiem, że modlitwa moja cię nie dotknie,
choć jest bluźniercza: jakbym szukał w księdze starej,
żem z tobą spokrewniony — tysiąckrotnie.

Chcę ci z miłości mych złożyć ofiarę…

Czy ojca kocha się? Czy z chłodem w twarzy
nie rzuca się go, tak jak tyś się ważył
odejść od jego słabych, pustych rąk?
Czy się nie wkłada do zamierzchłych ksiąg,
po cichu, jego uwiędłego słowa,
pomiędzy karty odwykłe od rąk?
Czy jak od działu wód się nie odpływa
od jego serca, w ból i w radość żywą?

Czy ojciec nie jest dla nas tym, co było;
lata, w których się obcą myślą żyło,
gesty zużyte, ubiór już zetlały,
przekwitłe dłonie i włos wypłowiały?
I jeśli w czasie swym mógł ujść za bohatera,
dziś, gdy rośniemy, spada jak liść i zamiera.

[Jesse Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made the impeccable choice to take this book with me when I went on a little mountain retreat. It was the perfect thing to read in front of a fire in the brisk of winter. I loved the intersection of Rilke's inner thoughts and his love of mythology, the verses almost seemed like I was listening in on someone's therpay session. His work is always so intimately delicate yet powerful. Definitely a collection to reread.

---

How he gave himself to it -. Loved.
Loved his inward world, his inner wilderness.

---

But this: death
the whole of death, before life,
to hold it so softly, and not live in anger,
cannot be expressed.

---

And yet in the warm waking creature
is the care and burden of a great sadness.
Since it too always has within it what often,
overwhelms us
- a memory.
as if what one is pursuing now was once
nearer, truer, and joined to us
with infinite tenderness.

---

Is that not your dream,
to be invisible, one day?

---

And, if the earthbound forget you,
say to the silent Earth : I flow.
To the rushing water say: I am.

---

Leaving you (indescribably, to unravel)
Your anxious, immense, and ripening life

---


Under the ancient trees, always again we lie,
Among flowers, face to face with the sky.

[Esther Hong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rainer (I have opted for the first rather than the last name in this case because Rainer is such a beautiful name) has been described as "a bridge between the themes and styles of the Romantic period and the concerns and anxieties that would give rise to modernism in the twentieth century". Been thinking about the metaphor of bridges lately - Bridge of Spies, A Dream of Snow-Covered Bridges. Wouldn't you say we need a lot of bridges in our seemingly fleeting life - bridge, ladder, what have you. He has also been described as a "poet who fled from God", who "sought his escape through music, specifically the music of poetry". Nice.

[Anka]

》Schlussstück

Der Tod ist groß.
Wir sind die Seinen
lachenden Munds.
Wenn wir uns mitten im Leben meinen,
wagt er zu weinen
mitten in uns.《

Wie immer bei Lyrikbänden war einiges dabei, was mich begeistern konnte. Andere Gedichte haben meinen Geschmack nicht getroffen.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[☀︎El In Oz☀︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

Amazing poetry. Shout out to the translator because this was absolutely fantastic. The rhythm, the imagery….just gorgeous poems. Will be reading much more of his work in the future!!!

[Valentina · Rating 5 out of 5]

a tiny piece of my heart was left behind in this little collection of poems. simply rilke 💖

"Life is more heavy --thy song says--
Than the vast, heavy burden of all things."

[Matty-Swytla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a great reader of poetry, but reading challenges have me listen to one or two collections a year, so not all is lost in this regard. I'm drawn to the classics since the likelihood of enjoying the poems rises considerably, and this is true for this collection, no mistake.

I like the quiet contemplative tone of Rilke's poetry, maybe because I get tired by too loud, overblown or too depressed tones of some poets. I also don't care that much about the clever types that enjoy twisting rhymes and alliterations everywhere - it's the content and emotional familiarity I seek in poetry. Rilke is definitely a poet I'll return to. I like the attention he pays to nature and small details. His themes are varied, so there's always something new to delight in. I also found that he fits my mood during long rainy days to a T.

Go and listen to it on Librivox, the version read by Peter Tucker is excellent:
Rainer Maria Rilke: Poems