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In Praise of Mortality: Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus by
scostner's review against another edition
4.0
I must have read Rilke at some point in an honors English class in high school, or during my minor in English at UT, but I don't remember doing so. Could my teachers have skipped over him somehow? This was the only collection of his poems at the local library, so now I am on a quest to find more (perhaps on my next trip to the used book store).
Lines seem to be speaking directly to me, as great poetry often does to its readers.
"This is our fate: to stand in our own way. Forever in the way."
"Like a person lingering for a moment on the last hill where he can see his whole valley - that is how we live, forever taking our leave."
"We in our striving think we should last forever, but could we be used by the Divine if we were not ephemeral?"
"...the stuff in our lives. It drowns us. We set it in order. It falls apart. We order it again and fall apart ourselves."
And the entire poem about the unicorn, how we will it into being by our belief - "They fed him: not with grain, but ever with the chance that he could be."
I took Russian, wanting to read Pasternak and Yevtushenko. I am tempted to take German just for Rilke. Thank goodness there are wonderful translations available. If you haven't tried any of his work yet and you like poetry - you should pick up a volume. His discussions of mindfulness, the takeover of modern life by the "Machine," and other themes are just as topical today as when he wrote them.
Lines seem to be speaking directly to me, as great poetry often does to its readers.
"This is our fate: to stand in our own way. Forever in the way."
"Like a person lingering for a moment on the last hill where he can see his whole valley - that is how we live, forever taking our leave."
"We in our striving think we should last forever, but could we be used by the Divine if we were not ephemeral?"
"...the stuff in our lives. It drowns us. We set it in order. It falls apart. We order it again and fall apart ourselves."
And the entire poem about the unicorn, how we will it into being by our belief - "They fed him: not with grain, but ever with the chance that he could be."
I took Russian, wanting to read Pasternak and Yevtushenko. I am tempted to take German just for Rilke. Thank goodness there are wonderful translations available. If you haven't tried any of his work yet and you like poetry - you should pick up a volume. His discussions of mindfulness, the takeover of modern life by the "Machine," and other themes are just as topical today as when he wrote them.
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