Rilke S Duino Elegies

Long considered the definitive English translation of Rilke's brilliant andhaunting masterworks, A. Poulin's edition of Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus provides an essential introduction to some of the most passionate and intensely creative visionary poetry of the twentieth century. With a new foreword by the esteemed poet Mark Doty and a fresh new design, Poulin's revered translation is certain to acquaint a new generation of readers with the works of Rilke.

The greatly admired essayist, novelist, and philosopher, author of Cartesian Sonata, Finding a Form, and The Tunnel, reflects on the art of translation and on Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies -- and gives us his own translation of Rilke's masterwork. After nearly a lifetime of reading Rilke in English, William Gass undertook the task of translating Rilke's writing in order to see if he could, in that way, get closer to the work he so deeply admired. With Gass's own background in philosophy, it seemed natural to begin with the Duino Elegies, the poems in which Rilke's ideas are most fully expressed and which as a group are important not only as one of the supreme poetic achievements of the West but also because of the way in which they came to be written -- in a storm of inspiration. Gass examines the genesis of the ideas that inform the Elegies and discusses previous translations. He writes, as well, about Rilke the man: his character, his relationships, his life. Finally, his extraordinary translation of the Duino Elegies offers us the experience of reading Rilke with a new and fuller understanding.

Named for the Castle of Duino, on a rocky headland of the Adriatic, the Duino Elegies speaks in a voice that is both intimate and majestic on the mysteries of human life and our attempt, in the words of the translator, 'to use our self-consciousness to some advantage: to transcend, through art and the imagination, our self-deception and our fear.'

One of the literary masterpieces of the century, this translation is now presented with facing-page German. We have a marvelous, almost legendary, image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rilke was staying at a castle (Duino) on the sea near Trieste. One morning he walked out on the battlements and climbed down to where the rocks dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the wind, which was blowing with great force, Rilke seemed to hear a voice: Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?). He wrote these words, the opening of the first Duino Elegy, in his notebook, then went inside to continue what was to be his major work and one of the literary masterpieces of the century.

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.

A new translation of Rilke’s classic elegies—ten mystical, radiant poems that bring together the beautiful and the sacred. Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies are one of the great 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, earthly or divine. Poet and translator Alfred Corn brings us closer to Rilke’s meaning than 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.

Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry offers a rare combination of insight, beauty, and accessibility that has delighted readers for generations. Beloved for its unique lyrical style and musical language, his work stands as some of the most remarkable poetry of the past one hundred years. In Praise of Mortality is an artfully curated selection of poems from Sonnets to Orpheus and Duino Elegies that investigate the emotional and psychological impact of the industrial revolution, and meditate on themes of impermanence and the steady passage of time. Barrows, an award-winning poet herself, and Macy, a well-known spiritual teacher, bring to their translations a striking sensitivity to the subtle currents of the work, approaching the poems with a fresh perspective that highlights the delicacy of their craft and beauty. With a deep reverence for nature and a singular ability to embody the tenuous connection between the spiritual and material, Rilke's sonnets and elegies are a thoughtful antidote to the distractions, noise, and ever-increasing pace of the modern world.