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sfranklinwriting's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Elegant and sometimes absurdly stout, Rilke both comforts and confronts with his poetic musings. I couldn’t much bare the elegies, only read 5 of them. They held their own in terms of Rilke’s body of work as a whole, but felt almost TOO personal to read (not in an explicative way, more so in a deep introspective, spiritual way). I was enamored throughout this volume though, almost FEELING the settings Rilke would place you in. Easily my new favorite male poet of the early 20th century!
rhaegals's review against another edition
5.0
"For beauty is nothing
but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure,
and while we stand in wonder it coolly disdains
to destroy us."
but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure,
and while we stand in wonder it coolly disdains
to destroy us."
margaretpottah's review against another edition
3.0
dude loves to write about God. it's at its most interesting when he personifies God (the OG What if God Was One of Us) in contemplation of loneliness and responsibility
efjens's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't love this a much as I hoped to. I certainly loved a few individual poems. But a lot of them sort of ran together for me. I do think I'd like to keep reading other collections and translations of Rilke though.
bucketoffish's review against another edition
2.0
It may just have been this specific translation, but I didn't think the poems were very good. Most of the imagery didn't really evoke any emotion, and in some cases were pretty cliche. I think the subject matter was also pretty uninspired in general.