Rainer Maria Rilke

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated from the German by Edward Snow “The most trustworthy and exhilarating of Rilke’s contemporary translators.” —Michael Dirda, Washington Post A gorgeous new translation of one of the strongest inaugural works in twentieth century poetry. Long hailed as a masterwork of modern German literature, The Book of Hours (1905) marks the origin of Rainer Maria Rilke’s distinctive voice and vision—where clarity of diction meets unexpected imagery and first-person poetry discovers its full lyric possibility. In these audacious poems, a devout but candid speaker addresses an ultimately unknowable deity, passing through love, fear, guilt, anger, bewilderment, loneliness, tenderness, and exaltation in his search for meaning. In this dual-language edition, Edward Snow, “the most trustworthy and exhilarating of Rilke’s contemporary translators” (Michael Dirda, Washington Post), makes Rilke’s achievement accessible as never before in English. Snow retains a striking fidelity to the German text while also conveying the captivating psychological presence that animates Rilke’s best poems. Paperback368 pagesText in German and EnglishW.W. Norton, 2026Originally published in 19055.5 x 8.3 inchesISBN 9781324123460Poetry, Rainer Maria Rilke

The Book of Hours

von Rainer Maria RilkeHerausgegeben von Rainer Stamm Seit seiner Begegnung mit Paula Becker, Clara Westhoff und den Malern der Künstlerkolonie in Worpswede setzt Rainer Maria Rilke sich immer wieder intensiv mit Malerei auseinander. Auf seinen Reisen hält er fortan seine Begegnungen mit Kunstwerken aus allen Epochen in kongenialen Bildbetrachtungen fest und berichtet in Tagebuchaufzeichnungen und Briefen von seinen Entdeckungen und Seherlebnissen. Erstmals werden in diesem Band Rilkes faszinierende Bildbeschreibungen den Werken von Rembrandt, El Greco, Goya, Böcklin, van Gogh, Picasso u. a. gegenübergestellt, die Rilke auf seinen Reisen gesehen und in seine präzise Sprache übersetzt hat. Hardcover92 pagesText in GermanInsel Verlag, 20254.8 x 0.43 x 7.24 inchesISBN 9783458645047Books in German, Rainer Maria Rilke

»Im ersten Augenblick«

Von Sandra Richter and Anna Kinder »Der Dichter und seine floralen Vorlieben, kundig erklärt, liebevoll illustriert und mit klugen Analysen in Beziehung gesetzt vor allem zu seinen Gedichten. « -Tilman Krause, WELT AM SONNTAG »Einen interessanten, nicht jedem bekannten Aspekt von Rilkes Leben hat Sandra Richter in einem ... Buch beleuchtet – einem lesenswerten[:] Rilke als Gärtner.«-Dieter Kaltwasser, General Anzeiger Bonn Die erste Einführung in Rilkes Pflanzen- und Blumenkosmos mit vielen bisher unbekannten Texten und Bildern Es ist »die Liebe […,] die Blumen zwischen die Seiten« der Bücher legt, schrieb Rilke Ende November 1904 seiner Ersatzmutter, der berühmten schwedischen Pädagogin Ellen Key, und betonte weiter, dass diese »immer an dieser Stelle bleiben sollen«. Zeitlebens verzierte er seine Bücher mit solchen Zeichen der Liebe, bedichtete Blumen, die ihm als Lebens- und Liebeszeichen galten, entwickelte, pflegte und nutzte seinen eigenen Garten in Schloss Muzot, seinem letzten Lebens- und Arbeitsort. Rilkes Auseinandersetzung mit der Pflanzenwelt zeigt ihn als Gärtner im doppelten Sinne: Als botanisierenden Autor und als tatsächlichen Gärtner – als Pflanzensammler, Blumeneinkäufer, botanisch informierten Naturbeobachter und, nach Verfertigung seines großen Spätwerks, als tätigen Gärtner. Der 2022 durch das Deutsche Literaturarchiv Marbach erworbene private Nachlass Rilkes bezeugt erstmals umfassend die Blumen- und Naturbegeisterung des Autors, kenntnisreich kommentiert von Sandra Richter, Autorin der großen Rilke-Biographie im Insel Verlag, und Anna Kinder. Fester Einband110 Seiten, Mit zahlreichen AbbildungenInsel Verlag GmbH, 20257.2 x 4.8 inchesISBN 9783458195542 Literature, Books in German

Rilke als Gartner

Von Rainer Maria Rilke Herausgegeben von Angelika Overath und Manfred Koch. Mit farbigen Abbildungen Wie in einem Paradiesgarten durchstreifen Tiere Rilkes Werk. Da tritt das fabelhafte Einhorn hervor, Delphine springen, Flamingos neigen ihr Haupt, Löwen brüllen, Schwäne gleiten. Hunde allerlei Art schmücken Landgüter oder verwildern in Städten. Der Dichter dreht gestürzte Marienkäfer auf der Fensterbank um, damit sie weiterleben können, und erfährt im Vogelflug seine Idee des »Weltinnenraums«. Auch wenn die Sphäre der Engel unzugänglich bleibt, geben Tiere doch Zeichen einer geheimen All-Verbundenheit der Wesen. Sie werden zu Lebenskomplizen, Echos der Seele. Die Anthologie versammelt Gedichte und Prosatexte aus Rilkes Werken, ergänzt durch ausgesuchte Tierbilder und abgerundet mit einem kundigen Nachwort der Herausgeber. Hardcover111 pages Text in German Insel Verlag, 20254.8 x 0.47 x 7.2 inchesISBN 9783458195498Literature

Rilkes Tiere

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Geoffrey Lehmann “The New Poems are for me Rilke’s greatest poems, written under the shadow of ‘mon grand ami Auguste Rodin’ to whom their second volume was dedicated. They are ‘method’ poems. Not waiting for inspiration, but taking the handicraft of a poem, and setting himself subjects, the way a shoemaker might, or a sculptor. ‘Thing-poems,’ Dinggedichte, poems about things, but also poems that are ‘a thing.’ The two volumes are, in my view, two of the most beautifully made poetic sequences ever.” —Michael Hofmann ”In Rilke not only do the stones and trees become human—as they have done always and everywhere poems have been made—but humans become things and nameless beings and only then gain their ultimate humanity.” —Robert Musil Fresh, beautiful new translations of one of the most important poets of all time, publishing in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s birth. Rilke is one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, revered throughout the world. Geoffrey Lehmann has selected fifty of Rilke’s finest poems from the two volumes of New Poems, considered the center of gravity of Rilke’s achievement. Lehmann’s refined ear and perfect mastery of English verse form give his renderings of Rilke a precision and poise equal to that of the German originals. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Rilke’s birth, a master poet lives anew. Paperback128 pagesNYRB Poets, 20254.5 x 7 inchesISBN 9781681379944Poetry

Fifty Poems

By Maurice BetzTranslated by Will Stone "I owe Betz infinite gratitude…a first-rate poet, a creative spirit, and a friend to all creative spirits…an ornament to literary France…an artist with words, lovable and worthy of love" – Thomas Mann "Maurice Betz is one of those artists whose importance only fully appears after they have disappeared" – Marcel Aymé "The Betz translation of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge constituted a conversation, even a confidence. And this is what makes its perfection so vital. Rilke is more present there than any author translated from book to book. For here was a translation from heart to heart" –Jean Cassou Walking in the Luxembourg Garden, describing encounters with enigmatic diva Eleonora Duse or an irascible Tolstoy: Rainer Maria Rilke’s French translator Maurice Betz enjoyed a rare intimacy with the great poet. This account of their collaborative translation of Rilke’s only novel brings the reader along on a tour of the glittering cultural scene of interwar Paris. An elegant, poignant look at the great writer’s final years, Betz’s memoir, sensitively translated by Will Stone, is a portrait of genius, an evocation of a lost world, and a testament to enduring friendship. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Paperback224 pagesPushkin Press, 2025Originally published in 19375.1 x 7.8 inchesISBN 9781805330288Essays, German Literature

Conversations with Rilke

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated from the German by Vita Sackville-West & Edward Sackville-WestIntroduction by Lesley Chamberlain The first-ever English translation of Rilke’s landmark poetry cycle, by Vita and Edward Sackville-West—reissued for the first time in 90 years In 1931, Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press published a small run of a beautiful edition of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies, in English translation by the writers Vita and Edward Sackville-West. This marked the English debut of Rilke’s masterpiece, which would eventually be rendered in English over 20 times, influencing countless poets, musicians and artists across the English-speaking world. Published for the first time in 90 years, the Sackville-Wests’ translation is both a fascinating historical document and a magnificent blank-verse rendering of Rilke’s poetry cycle. Featuring a new introduction from critic Lesley Chamberlain, this reissue casts one of European literature’s great masterpieces in fresh light. Paperback109 pagesPushkin Press, 2025Originally published in 19235.11 x 0.37 x 7.77 inchesISBN 9781782277804Poetry

Duino Elegies [Paperback]

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Ulrich Baer In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value. The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters — an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry. The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic development, and they contain many of the themes that later appeared in his best works. The poet himself afterwards stated that his letters contained part of his creative genius, making this volume essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse.Hardcover74 pagesInsel Verlag GmbH, 2018Originally published in 19294.8 x 7.4 inchesISBN 9783458194507 Classic Literature

Letters to a Young Poet

By Rainer Maria Rilke Over the course of six years, Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, suffering and the nature of advice itself; these profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for writers and artists of all kinds. This volume also contains the 'Letter from a Young Worker', a striking polemic against Christianity written too in letter form. Hardcover128 pagesPenguin Clothbound Classics, 20234.49 x 0.55 x 6.46 inchesISBN 9780241620038 German Poetry

With an Introduction by Will StoneTranslated by Will StoneAn intimate glimpse into the life and letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. In July 1921, displaced European poet Rainer Maria Rilke sequestered himself in the chateau of Muzot, a thirteenth-century medieval tower perched in the vineyards above the town of Sierre in the Canton Valais, Switzerland. In this sun-flooded landscape of the Rhone Valley, he found beguiling echoes of Spain and his beloved Provence. Here, the Duino Elegies were famously completed and the Sonnets to Orpheus followed. During this time, Rilke’s correspondence also bloomed, and Letters around a Garden collects some of those letters together into English for the first time. One intriguing exchange from 1924 to 1926 was with a young aristocratic Swiss woman Antoinette de Bonstetten, a passionate horticulturist who had been recommended as a potential advisor for the redesign and upkeep of the Muzot rose garden. In twenty-two precious letters originally written in French, Rilke relishes the prospect of their elusive meeting, keenly discusses the plans for his garden, and wittily laments the trials of his plants. Beyond the encomium for Paul Valéry and poignant memory of place are passages of exquisite writing, in which Rilke evokes with trademark sensitivity the delicate relationship between the changing seasons and the natural world of his adopted region. We also witness the loving relationship evolve between these sometime-fugitive correspondents and how questions of solitariness and companionship impinge on one who faces unaccustomed challenges as his health tragically declines.Paperback96 pages | 3 halftones Seagull Books, 20245 x 8 inches ISBN 9781803093345Literature, Letters

Letters around a Garden: Rainer Maria Rilke

By Rainer Maria Rilke Edited by Peter Washington Translated by J.B. Leishman The Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Rilke contains poems from The Book of Images; New Poems; Requiem for a Friend; Poems, 1906-1926; French Poems; The Life of Mary; Sonnets to Orpheus; The Duino Elegies; Letters to a Young Poet; and an index of first lines.Hardcover256 pagesEveryman's Library, 19964.1 x 6.25 InchesISBN 9780679450986Poetry, Literature

Rilke: Poems (Everyman's Library)

By Rainer Maria Rilke Born in Prague when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and recognized today as a master of verse, poet Rainer Maria Rilke was considerably less well known in 1902 when he received a heartfelt letter from an aspiring poet. A 19-year-old student sent Rilke some of his verses, seeking an opinion of their worth. Rilke declined to offer a critique, instead encouraging the student to rely upon his own inner judgment: "Nobody can advise and help you, nobody. There is only one single means. Go inside yourself." This seemingly dismissive letter proved to be the first of ten, written during a six-year period that coincided with an important stage in Rilke's artistic development. The poet offered his young correspondent further advice on developing a rich inner life as well as guidance on broader philosophical and existential issues. These letters, which explore many of the themes that later emerged in Rilke's best works, remain a captivating source of insights into the artistic identity and process.Reprint of the Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1945 edition.Paperback80 pagesDover Publications, 20195 x 8 inchesISBN 9780486831855Literature, Classic

Letters to a Young Poet (Dover Thrift Editions)

By Rainer Maria RilkeForeword by Damion SearlsTranslated from the German by M.D. Herter NortonA gorgeous edition of one of the most beloved classics of the twentieth century, published in celebration of W. W. Norton’s 100th anniversary. This slim volume of letters from the poet and mystic, Rainer Maria Rilke, to a nineteen-year-old cadet and aspiring poet named Franz Xaver Kappus, has touched millions of readers since it was first published in English in 1934. The translator, Mary Dows Herter Norton—a polymath extraordinaire with expertise in music, literature, and science, and who, along with her husband, William Warder Norton, founded the company that bears his name—played a crucial role in elevating Rilke’s reputation in the English-speaking world. This Norton Centenary Edition commemorates Norton, known as “Polly” to friends and colleagues, and the 100th anniversary of the publishing company she cofounded. An admiring foreword by Damion Searls—himself a recent translator of Rilke’s Letters—celebrates Polly’s stylistic achievement, and an afterword by Norton’s President, Julia A. Reidhead, honors her commitment to maintaining W. W. Norton & Company’s independence. This handsome new edition of a beloved classic brings Rilke’s enduring wisdom about life, love, and art to a new generation, in the translation that first introduced him to the English-speaking world.Hardcover160 pagesW.W. Norton & Company, 20235.8 x 0.6 x 8.6ISBN 9781324050728Letters

Letters to a Young Poet (The Norton Centenary Edition)

By Rainer Maria RilkeEdited and translated by Ulrich BaerRainer Maria Rilke's poetry and letters have inspired countless readers around the world with their wisdom and insight into how we can be more than ourselves without recourse to religion, politics, or ideology: through the experiences of art and love. Gathered here for the first time in original translations are Rilke's candid, piercing, and lyrical reflections on love–the experience he considered paramount for human existence but also, with the exception of death, the event for which we are least prepared. Selected from Rilke's poetry and his vast correspondence, these passages present Rilke's contemplations on falling in love, being in love, losing love, and the mystical ways in which love endures.Paperback136 pagesWarbler Press, 20205 x 7.8 x .3 inchesISBN 9781734588125Poetry, Letters

Rilke on Love

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Joanna Macy and Anita BarrowsAn original translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's most famous work by acclaimed translators Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.Originally written from 1902-1908, Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke's (1875-1926) thoughts and reflections on the vocation of writing. The letters urge his correspondent to look inward and understand his motivations for pursuing a life devoted to the written word, looking beyond those who attempt to criticize and critique his work. His advice can be extended to all young writers.For the first time in twenty years, Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy offer a new translation of this classic work that speaks to a new generation of artists, poets, and writers. With a new introduction and commentary on each letter, this edition places Rilke's letters in the context of today's world and the unique challenges of modern writers. Barrows and Macy are the first women to translate Letters to a Young Poet and their edition offers a fresh perspective on this work.Hardcover120 pagesRandom House, 2021Originally published in 19294.45 x 0.5 x 7.06 inchesISBN 9781611806861Poetry, Literature

By Rainer Maria RilkeFor a long time nothing, and then suddenly one has the right eyes.Virtually every day in the fall of 1907, Rainer Maria Rilke returned to a Paris gallery to view a Cézanne exhibition. Nearly as frequently, he wrote dense and joyful letters to his wife, Clara Westhoff, expressing his dismay before the paintings and his ensuing revelations about art and life.Rilke was knowledgeable about art and had even published monographs, including a famous study of Rodin that inspired his New Poems. But Cézanne's impact on him could not be conveyed in a traditional essay. Rilke's sense of kinship with Cézanne provides a powerful and prescient undercurrent in these letters -- passages from them appear verbatim in Rilke's great modernist novel, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Letters on Cézanne is a collection of meaningfully private responses to a radically new art.Paperback112 pagesFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002Originally Published in 19525.6 x 0.33 x 8.2 inchesISBN 9780865476394Letters, Poetry

Letters on Cézanne

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Alfred Corn Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies are one of the greatest literary masterpieces of the twentieth century. Begun in 1912 while the poet was a guest at Duino Castle on the Adriatic Sea and completed in a final bout of feverish inspiration in 1922, the ten elegies survey the mysteries of consciousness, whether human or animal, earthy or divine. Poet and translator Alfred Corn brings us closer to Rilke's meaning that ever before and illuminates the elegies' celebration of life and love. Also included are a critical introduction exploring the nuances of the translation, several thematically linked lyrics, and two of the "Letters to a Young Poet" to complete the volume. Paperback144 pagesText in German and EnglishW.W. Norton and Company, 2021Originally published in 19235.5 x 0.5 x 8.3 inchesISBN 9781324005407Poetry

Duino Elegies: A New and Complete Translation

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by M.D. Herter Norton One of the literary masterpieces of the century, this translation is now presented with facing-page German. To Rilke himself the Sonnets to Orpheus were "perhaps the most mysterious in the way they came up and entrusted themselves to me, the most enigmatic dictation I have ever held through and achieved; the whole first part was written down in a single breathless act of obedience, between the 2nd and 5th of February, without one word being doubtful or having to be changed." With facing-page German. Paperback162 pagesText in English and German W.W. Norton, 2006Originally published in 19235.3 x 0.4 x 7.7 inchesISBN 9780393328851Poetry

Sonnets to Orpheus

By Eric Torgersen "It was not until I read Requiem for a Friend in Eric Torgersen's translation that I understood what a great and tragic poem it is: guilt-ridden, impassioned, intimate, a sublimated howl. Torgersen's version is one of those rare complete successes in the absolutely impossible art of translation."—Galway Kinnell"A brilliant and valuable study, written with grace and passion, Torgesen's work could scarcely be bettered, both for the delight of reading it provides and for the insights into the lives it exposes."—Choice"As a guide through the intersecting lives and relevant work of Rilke, Modersohn-Becker, and Westhoff, this study has qualitatively and in its focus no parallel in either English or German."—Reinhold Heller, University of ChicagoIn 1908, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote Requiem for a Friend in memory of Paula Moderson-Becker, the German painter who had profoundly affected him and who had died a year earlier. Although one of the great modern painters, Modersohn-Becker is remembered primarily as she is portrayed in Rilke's poem. Dear Friend looks at the relationship of two great artists whose often-strained friendship was extraordinarily productive for both. Paperback 276 pagesNorthwestern University Press, 20006 x 0.8 x 9 inchesISBN 9780810118195Biography, Letters, Poetry

Dear Friend: Rainer Maria Rilke and Paula Modersohn-Becker

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Ulrich Baer “Even though each of these letters of condolence is personalized with intimate detail, together they hammer home Rilke’s remarkable truth about the death of another: that the pain of it can force us into a ‘deeper . . . level of life’ and render us more ‘vibrant.’ Here we have a great poet’s reflections on our greatest mystery.”—Billy Collins“A treasure . . . The solace Rilke offers is uncommon, uplifting and necessary.”––The Guardian“As we live our lives, it is possible to feel not sadness or melancholy but a rush of power as the life of others passes into us. This rhapsodic volume teaches us that death is not a negation but a deepening experience in the onslaught of existence. What a wise and victorious book!”—Henri Cole Gleaned from Rainer Maria Rilke’s voluminous, never-before-translated letters to bereaved friends and acquaintances, The Dark Interval is a profound vision of the mourning process and a meditation on death’s place in our lives. Following the format of Letters to a Young Poet, this book arranges Rilke’s letters into an uninterrupted sequence, showcasing the full range of the great author’s thoughts on death and dying, as well as his sensitive and moving expressions of consolation and condolence.Presented with care and authority by master translator Ulrich Baer, The Dark Interval is a literary treasure, an indispensable resource for anyone searching for solace, comfort, and meaning in a time of grief. Hardcover128 pagesModern Library, 20185 x 0.6 x 7.6 inchesISBN 9780525509844Letters, Correspondence

The Dark Interval: Letters on Loss, Grief, and Transformation

By Rainer Maria Rilke In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value. The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters—an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry. The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic development, and they contain many of the themes that later appeared in his best works. The poet himself afterwards stated that his letters contained part of his creative genius, making this volume essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse. Paperback80 pagesDover Thrift Editions, 2002Originally Published in 19295.2 x 0.2 x 8.2 inchesISBN 9780486422459Letters, Poetry, Life Advice

By Rachel Corbett Winner of the Marfield Prize for Arts Writing, 2016 “[An] empathetic and imaginative biography, deeply researched.”―The New Yorker "You Must Change Your Life is an enthralling exploration of the complex relationship between two creative giants of art and literature, drawn together in Paris at the birth of a new century...Corbett...sustains the reader’s interest through intellectual rigour, elegance, and above all empathy."—The London Magazine "...she [Rachel Corbett] evokes the interaction between Rodin's and Rilke's circumstances and mental states in vivid detail...The result of her efforts is a beautiful exercise in compact, interwoven double biography."—Times Literary Supplement In 1902, Rainer Maria Rilke―then a struggling poet in Germany―went to Paris to research and write a short book about the sculptor Auguste Rodin. The two were almost polar opposites: Rilke in his twenties, delicate and unknown; Rodin in his sixties, carnal and revered. Yet they fell into an instantaneous friendship―and before long Rodin hired Rilke as his secretary. With verve and great insight, Corbett transports readers to turn-of-the-twentieth-century Paris to explore this surprising friendship and the development of their influential ideas about art and creativity. She captures the dawn of modernism with appearances by such charismatic figures as Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Isadora Duncan, George Bernard Shaw, and Jean Cocteau, as well as the rise of the concept of “empathy” amid the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Georg Simmel. Corbett also introduces the women in these men’s lives, many of them esteemed writers and artists in their own right: Rodin’s muse Camille Claudel, Rilke’s wife and fellow artist Clara Westhoff, and the remarkable Lou Andreas-Salome, who was Nietzsche’s lover and Rilke’s lifelong friend. You Must Change Your Life is a vibrant portrait of Rilke and Rodin’s singular friendship, heartbreaking rift, and moving reconciliation, and it is a testament to the ways their work continues to reverberate to this day. Paperback320 pagesW. W. Norton & Company, 20175.6 x 0.9 x 8.3 inchesISBN 9780393354928Biography, Art

You Must Change Your Life: The Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin [Paperback]

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by J.B. Leishman Possibility of Being is a selection of poems by one of the most moving and original writers of this century, Rainer Maria Rilke (1857-l926). The title (taken from one of the Sonnets to Orpheus, ''Ibis is the Creature") reflects the central concern of both Rilke's life and art: the achievement of "being,” which this most spiritual yet least doctrinaire of modern German poets defined as "the experiencing of the completest possible inner intensity.'' The eighty-four poems included in this small volume will serve as a sound and inviting introduction to Rilke's strategies in the pursuit of "being." And just as the unicorn in "This Is the Creature" has an eternal "possibility of being" but only becomes visible in the mirror held by a virgin, so can our own possibilities become manifest in the mirror held by the sensitive artist. The poems are chosen from The Book of Hours (1899-1903), The Book of Images (1902 and 1906), New Poems (1907 and 1908), Requiem (1909), Duino Elegies (1923), Sonnets to Orpheus (1923), and the posthumous Poems 1906-26. This selection was made by Professor Theodore Ziolkowski of Princeton University, who drew from the various New Directions volumes of Rilke's work translated by J. B. Leishman. Paperback127 pagesNew Directions; Reprint Edition, 19775.3 x 0.4 x 8 inchesISBN 9780811206518Poetry

Possibility of Being: A Selection of Poems

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by M.D. Herter Norton Born in 1875, the great German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke published his first collection of poems in 1898 and went on to become renowned for his delicate depiction of the workings of the human heart. Drawn by some sympathetic note in his poems, young people often wrote to Rilke with their problems and hopes. From 1903 to 1908 Rilke wrote a series of remarkable responses to a young, would-be poet on poetry and on surviving as a sensitive observer in a harsh world. Those letters, still a fresh source of inspiration and insight, are accompanied here by a chronicle of Rilke's life that shows what he was experiencing in his own relationship to life and work when he wrote them. Paperback123 pagesW. W. Norton & Company, 1993Originally Published in 19295.4 x 0.3 x 8 inchesISBN 9780393310399Letters and Correspondence

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Marie Macy “These poems of spiritual yearning and discovery composed by the young Rilke one hundred years ago feel very fresh and moving in the beautifully transparent, supple versions of Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. With their psalm-like directness and emotional urgency, they nourish and quicken the life of the spirit.”—Chana Bloch, translator of The Song of Songs While visiting Russia in his twenties, Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the twentieth century's greatest poets, was moved by a spirituality he encountered there. Inspired, Rilke returned to Germany and put down on paper what he felt were spontaneously received prayers. Rilke's Book of Hours is the invigorating vision of spiritual practice for the secular world, and a work that seems remarkably prescient today, one hundred years after it was written. Rilke's Book of Hours shares with the reader a new kind of intimacy with God, or the divine—a reciprocal relationship between the divine and the ordinary in which God needs us as much as we need God. Rilke influenced generations of writers with his Letters to a Young Poet, and now Rilke's Book of Hours tells us that our role in the world is to love it and thereby love God into being. These fresh translations rendered by Joanna Macy, a mystic and spiritual teacher, and Anita Barrows, a skilled poet, capture Rilke's spirit as no one has done before. Paperback257 pages Penguin Press, 2005Originally published in 19055.1 x 0.7 x 8 inchesISBN 9781594481567 Poetry

Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

Edited by Erika A. Metzger and Michael M. MetzgerContributors: Alan F. Keele, Erika and Michael Metzger, and George C. Schoolfield"The ten essays by eminent Rilke scholars succeed in their intent to move toward a new image of Rilke."—German Quarterly "This study is a wonderful, animated text, a lovely tribute to the poet's great humanity, and it should be included in any study of Rilke."—Colloquia Germanica"The cosmopolitan solitary is shown against the background of a developing modernistic culture, to which (Rilke) substantially contributed. The authors show profound insight into the many problems raised ... by work which combines the ineffable with the physical."—Modern Language StudiesRainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is the best-known German poet of his generation and is widely appreciated today by readers in Europe, the United States, and world-wide. Because of the inventiveness and musicality of his poetic language and the visionary intuition of his thinking, Rilke's influence extends well beyond poetry to include religion, philosophy, the social sciences, and the arts. His works have been widely translated into English, and new renderings of such poem cycles as "Duino Elegies" and "The Sonnets to Orpheus" appear frequently. Critics regard Rilke's Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge as a seminal modern novel. The Companion to Rilke provides essential, up-to-date essays by top Rilke scholars on a wide range of the major aspects of Rilke's life and works. The volume follows the chronology of Rilke's career, emphasizing those works that have not been met with the greatest critical interest. Among the topics covered are: Rilke's life and thought; the writings before 1902; Das Stunden-Buch and Das Buch der Bilder; the Neue Gedichte, The Cornet and other brief narratives; Malte Laurids Brigge; The Duino Elegies; The Sonnets to Orpheus; Rilke as a poet in French; Rilke and the visual arts.Paperback323 pagesBOYE6, 20046 x 0.7 x 9 inchesISBN 9781571133021Literary Criticism

A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke

By Rainer Maria Rilke Translated by Charlie LouthRilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now available in a beautiful hardcover Penguin edition. At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering, and the nature of advice itself. These profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for generations of writers and artists of all kinds, including Lady Gaga and Patti Smith. With honesty, elegance, and a deep understanding of the loneliness that often comes with being an artist, Rilke's letters are an endless source of inspiration and comfort. Lewis Hyde's new introduction explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. This edition also includes Rilke's later work "The Letter from the Young Worker". Written between 1903 and 1908 to a student who had sent Rilke his poems for evaluation, these ten letters—among the most famous and beloved of this century—reveal the deeply felt ideas about life and art that shaped the great poet's work. Two-color interior. Hardcover144 pagesPenguin Classics, 2013Originally Published in 19295.1 x 0.6 x 7.6 inchesISBN 9780143107149Poetry, Letters, Advice

By Rainer Maria RilkeTranslated by John J. L. MoodAn anthology of Rilke's strongest poetry and prose for both aficionados and new readers.Here is a mini-anthology of poetry and prose for both aficionados and those readers discovering Rainer Maria Rilke for the first time. John J. L. Mood has assembled a collection of Rilke's strongest work, presenting commentary along with the selections. Mood links into an essay passages from letters that show Rilke's profound understanding of men and women and his ardent spirituality, rooted in the senses.Combining passion and sensitivity, the poems on love presented here are often not only sensual but sexual as well. Others pursue perennial themes in his work—death and life, growth and transformation. The book concludes with Rilke's reflections on wisdom and openness to experience, on grasping what is most difficult and turning what is most alien into that which we can most trust. Paperback128 pagesW.W. Norton & Co., 19945.4 x 0.5 x 8 inchesISBN 9780393310986 Poetry, Prose

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The Book of Hours

»Im ersten Augenblick«

Rilke als Gartner

Rilkes Tiere

Fifty Poems

Conversations with Rilke

Duino Elegies [Paperback]

Letters to a Young Poet

Letters to a Young Poet

Letters around a Garden: Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke: Poems (Everyman's Library)

Letters to a Young Poet (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Rainer Maria Rilke