The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: “I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone”

By Rainer Maria Rilke

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke, but better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was born in Prague, then the capital of Bohemia and itself part of the Austro-Hungarian empire on 4th December 1875.

His mother treated Rilke for much of his early years as the daughter she had previously lost, even going so far as to dress him in girls clothing.

Rilke, initially pressured into attending a military school would however grow up to become a widely admired poet and writer. The intensity of his lyrics help to describe and reveal many of the troubles of the times in a different way to others of his generation. His work is religious, mystical and has helped influence generations of later writers.

Whilst his contribution to German literature is obvious he also wrote some 400 poems in French. He travelled widely in Europe and eventually settled in Switzerland in 1919 to escape the post-war chaos and to concentrate on completing his sonnet cycles.

During his life his health frequently failed and he became prone to bouts of heavy depression, mainly due to his conscripted wartime experiences though he didn’t serve on the frontline

Rainer Maria Rilke died from leukaemia on 29th December 1926 at the age of 51 in Montreux, Vaud, Switzerland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portable Poetry
• Release date: Apr 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839673603

Book preview

Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke

Translated by Jessie Lamont

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke, but better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was born in Prague, then the capital of Bohemia and itself part of the Austro-Hungarian empire on 4th December 1875.

His mother treated Rilke for much of his early years as the daughter she had previously lost, even going so far as to dress him in girls clothing.

Rilke, initially pressured into attending a military school would however grow up to become a widely admired poet and writer.  The intensity of his lyrics help to describe and reveal many of the troubles of the times in a different way to others of his generation. His work is religious, mystical and has helped influence generations of later writers.

Whilst his contribution to German literature is obvious he also wrote some 400 poems in French.  He travelled widely in Europe and eventually settled in Switzerland in 1919  to escape the post-war chaos and to concentrate on completing his sonnet cycles.

During his life his health frequently failed and he became prone to bouts of heavy depression, mainly due to his conscripted wartime experiences though he didn’t serve on the frontline

Rainer Maria Rilke died from leukaemia on 29th December 1926 at the age of 51 in Montreux, Vaud, Switzerland.

Index of Contents

Dedication

The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by H. T.

FIRST POEMS

Evening

Mary Virgin

THE BOOK OF PICTURES

Presaging

Autumn

Silent Hour

The Angels

Solitude

Kings in Legends

The Knight

The Boy

Initiation

The Neighbour

Song of the Statue

Maidens I

Maidens II

The Bride

Autumnal Day

Moonlight Night

In April

Memories of a Childhood

Death

The Ashantee

Remembrance

Music

Maiden Melancholy

Maidens at Confirmation

The Woman who Loves

Pont du Carrousel

Madness

Lament

Symbols

NEW POEMS

Early Apollo

The Tomb of a Young Girl

The Poet

The Panther

Growing Blind

The Spanish Dancer

Offering

Love Song

Archaic Torso of Apollo

THE BOOK OF HOURS

THE BOOK OF A MONK’S LIFE

I Live my Life in Circles

Many have Painted Her

In Cassocks Clad

Thou Anxious One

I Love My Life's Dark Hours

THE BOOK OF PILGRIMAGE

By Day Thou Art The Legend and The Dream

All Those Who Seek Thee

In a House Was One

Extinguish My Eyes

In the Deep Nights

THE BOOK OF POEVERTY AND DEATH

Her Mouth

Alone Thou Wanderest

A Watcher of Thy Spaces

RAINER MARIA RILKE – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEDICATION

TO THE MEMORY OF

AUGUSTE RODIN

THROUGH WHOM I CAME TO KNOW

RAINER MARIA RILKE

THE POETRY OF RAINER MARIA RILKE

εἶσὶ γὰρ οὖν, οἳ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς κυοῦσιν

Plato

The supreme problem of every age is that of finding its consummate artistic expression. Before this problem every other remains of secondary importance. History defines and directs its physical course, science cooperates in the achievement of its material aims, but Art alone gives to the age its spiritual physiognomy, its ultimate and lasting expression.

The process of Art is on the one hand sensuous, the conception having for its basis the fineness of organization of the senses; and on the other hand it is severely scientific,