Scan barcode
A review by foggy1218
Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke
4.0
2022 reads, 14/20:
The Duino Elegies are a collection of ten deeply religious and spiritual poems written by Rainer Maria Rilke from 1912 to 1922, taking various breaks in between. They cover heavy (and even overwhelming) themes such as religion, life, and death.
This in the first lines of the first elegy, Rilke makes a call out to ‘the Angels,’ but quickly realizes that biblically-accurate angels would be too powerful for a human to comprehend, thus concluding ‘every Angel is terror.’ The elegies continue in this manner, further exploring themes of childhood, parenthood, and even love, with some beautiful lines weaving their way throughout the deeply existentialist stanzas.
The theme of death makes its way front and center in the final three elegies – Rilke expresses his anger towards death, acceptance of death, and finally imagines what death would be like. To me, these were the heaviest of the ten, but the most powerful.
I don’t read much poetry, so I’m not adept to take a deep dive into these poems and what Rilke might have been feeling at the time, I could only really enjoy the ride as I read. But don't be fooled: each elegy may only be 3-4 pages, but you really have to step back and take in what Rilke is saying.
The Duino Elegies are a collection of ten deeply religious and spiritual poems written by Rainer Maria Rilke from 1912 to 1922, taking various breaks in between. They cover heavy (and even overwhelming) themes such as religion, life, and death.
This in the first lines of the first elegy, Rilke makes a call out to ‘the Angels,’ but quickly realizes that biblically-accurate angels would be too powerful for a human to comprehend, thus concluding ‘every Angel is terror.’ The elegies continue in this manner, further exploring themes of childhood, parenthood, and even love, with some beautiful lines weaving their way throughout the deeply existentialist stanzas.
“You see, we don’t love like flowers, the work of just one year; sap from time immemorial mounts in our arms when we love.”
The theme of death makes its way front and center in the final three elegies – Rilke expresses his anger towards death, acceptance of death, and finally imagines what death would be like. To me, these were the heaviest of the ten, but the most powerful.
I don’t read much poetry, so I’m not adept to take a deep dive into these poems and what Rilke might have been feeling at the time, I could only really enjoy the ride as I read. But don't be fooled: each elegy may only be 3-4 pages, but you really have to step back and take in what Rilke is saying.