René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an
idiosyncratic
An idiosyncrasy is an unusual feature of a person (though there are also other uses, see below). It can also mean an odd habit. The term is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. A synonym may be "quirk".
Etymology
The term "idiosyncr ...
and expressive poet, and is widely recognized as a significant writer in the German language.
[Biography: Rainer Maria Rilke 1875–1926]
Poetry Foundation website. Retrieved 2 February 2013. His work has been seen by critics and scholars as having undertones of
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
, exploring themes of
subjective experience and disbelief. His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry and several volumes of correspondence.
Rilke travelled extensively throughout Europe, and in his later years settled in Switzerland, becoming key to the genesis and inspiration for many of his poems. While Rilke is most known for his contributions to German literature, he additionally wrote in French. Among English-language readers, his best-known works include the poetry collections ''
Duino Elegies
The ''Duino Elegies'' (german: Duineser Elegien) are a collection of ten elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He was then "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", and began t ...
'' (') and ''
Sonnets to Orpheus
The ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' (german: Die Sonette an Orpheus) are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by the Bohemian- Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). It was first published the following year. Rilke, who is "widely recognized ...
'' ('), the semi-autobiographical novel ''
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'', first published as ''Journal of My Other Self'', M. D. Herter Norton (tr.). New York: W. W. Norton, 1949, 1992. Translator's Foreword, p. 8. is a 1910 novel by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The nove ...
'' ('), and a collection of ten letters that was published after his death under the title ''
Letters to a Young Poet
''Letters to a Young Poet'' (original title, in German: ''Briefe an einen jungen Dichter'') is a collection of ten letters written by Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966), a 19-year-old off ...
'' ('). In the later 20th century, his work found new audiences through use by
self-help
Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...
authors
[Komar, Kathleen L. "Rilke: Metaphysics in a New Age" in Bauschinger, Sigrid and Cocalis, Susan. ''Rilke-Rezeptionen: Rilke Reconsidered'' (Tübingen/Basel: Franke, 1995), pp. 155–169. Rilke reinterpreted "as a master who can lead us to a more fulfilled and less anxious life".][Komar, Kathleen L. "Rethinking Rilke's ''Duisiner Elegien'' at the End of the Millennium" in Metzger, Erika A. ''A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke'' (Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2004), pp. 188–189.] and frequent quotations in television shows, books and motion pictures.
Biography
Early life (1875–1896)
![Rilke 1878](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Rilke_1878.PNG)
He was born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, capital of Bohemia (then part of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, now part of Czech Republic). His childhood and youth in Prague were not especially happy. His father, Josef Rilke (1838–1906), became a railway official after an unsuccessful military career. His mother, Sophie ("Phia") Entz (1851–1931), came from a well-to-do Prague family, the Entz-Kinzelbergers, who lived in a house on the Herrengasse (Panská) 8, where René also spent many of his early years. The relationship between Phia and her only son was coloured by her mourning for an earlier child, a daughter who had died only one week old. During Rilke's early years, Phia acted as if she sought to recover the lost girl through the boy by treating him as if he were a girl. According to Rilke, he had to wear "fine clothes" and "was a plaything
or his mother
Or or OR may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* "O.R.", a 1974 episode of M*A*S*H
* Or (My Treasure), a 2004 movie from Israel (''Or'' means "light" in Hebrew)
Music
* ''Or'' (album), a 2002 album by Golden Boy with Miss ...
like a big doll". His parents' marriage failed in 1884. His parents pressured the poetically and artistically talented youth into entering a military academy in
Sankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten (; Central Bavarian: ''St. Pödn''), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020. St. Pölten ...
, Lower Austria, which he attended from 1886 until 1891, when he left owing to illness. He moved to
Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
, where he attended trade school. Expelled from school in May 1892, the 16-year-old prematurely returned to Prague. From 1892 to 1895, he was tutored for the university entrance exam, which he passed in 1895. Until 1896, he studied literature, art history, and philosophy in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
and Munich.
Munich and Saint Petersburg
Rilke met and fell in love with the widely travelled and intellectual woman of letters
Lou Andreas-Salomé
Lou Andreas-Salomé (born either Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé or Lioulia von Salomé, russian: link=no, Луиза Густавовна Саломе; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and a ...
in 1897 in Munich. He changed his first name from "René" to "Rainer" at Salomé's urging because she thought that name to be more masculine, forceful and Germanic. His relationship with this married woman, with whom he undertook two extensive trips to Russia, lasted until 1900. Even after their separation, Salomé continued to be Rilke's most important confidante until the end of his life. Having trained from 1912 to 1913 as a
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
with
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
, she shared her knowledge of psychoanalysis with Rilke.
In 1898 Rilke undertook a journey lasting several weeks to Italy. The following year he travelled with Lou and her husband,
Friedrich Carl Andreas
Friedrich Carl Andreas (14 April 1846 in Batavia – 4 October 1930 in Göttingen) was an orientalist of German, Malay and Armenian parentage (descendant of the Bagratuni or Bagratid royal family (Armenian: Բագրատունի). He was t ...
, to Moscow where he met the novelist
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
. Between May and August 1900, a second journey to Russia, accompanied only by Lou, again took him to Moscow and
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, where he met the family of
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...
and
Spiridon Drozhzhin
Spiridon Dmitryevich Drozhzhin ( rus, Спиридо́н Дми́триевич Дро́жжин, p=sʲpʲɪrʲɪˈdon ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ ˈdroʐːɨn, - ˈdroʑːɪn, a=Spiridon Dmitriyevich Drozhzhin.ru.vorb.oga; 18 December 1848 – 2 ...
, a peasant poet. Author Anna A. Tavis cites the cultures of Bohemia and Russia as the key influences on Rilke's poetry and consciousness.
In 1900, Rilke stayed at the artists' colony at
Worpswede
Worpswede (Northern Low Saxon: ''Worpsweed'') is a municipality in the Osterholz-Scharmbeck, district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teufelsmoor, northeast of Bremen (city), Bremen. The small town itself is located n ...
. (Later, his portrait would be painted by the proto-expressionist
Paula Modersohn-Becker
Paula Modersohn-Becker (8 February 1876 – 20 November 1907) was a German Expressionist painter of the late 19th and early 20th century. Her work is noted for its intensity and its blunt, unapologetic humanity, and for the many self-portraits th ...
, whom he got to know at Worpswede.) It was here that he got to know the sculptor
Clara Westhoff
Clara Westhoff (21 September 1878 in Bremen – 9 March 1954 in Fischerhude), also known as ''Clara Rilke'' or ''Clara Rilke-Westhoff'' was a pioneer German sculptor and artist. She was the wife of poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
Early life
At 17, W ...
, whom he married the following year. Their daughter Ruth (1901–1972) was born in December 1901.
Paris (1902–1910)
![Paula Modersohn-Becker 016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Paula_Modersohn-Becker_016.jpg)
In the summer of 1902, Rilke left home and travelled to Paris to write a
monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
on the sculptor
Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
. Before long his wife left their daughter with her parents and joined Rilke there. The relationship between Rilke and Clara Westhoff continued for the rest of his life; a mutually-agreed-upon effort towards a divorce was bureaucratically hindered by the fact that Rilke was a Catholic, albeit a non-practising one.
At first, Rilke had a difficult time in Paris, an experience that he called upon in the first part of his only novel, ''
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'', first published as ''Journal of My Other Self'', M. D. Herter Norton (tr.). New York: W. W. Norton, 1949, 1992. Translator's Foreword, p. 8. is a 1910 novel by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The nove ...
''. At the same time his encounter with modernism was very stimulating: Rilke became deeply involved with the sculpture of Rodin and then the work of
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
. For a time, he acted as Rodin's secretary, also lecturing and writing a long essay on Rodin and his work. Rodin taught him the value of objective observation and, under this influence, Rilke dramatically transformed his poetic style from the subjective and sometimes incantatory language of his earlier work into something quite new in European literature. The result was the ''
New Poems'', famous for the "
thing-poems" expressing Rilke's rejuvenated artistic vision. During these years, Paris increasingly became the writer's main residence.
The most important works of the Paris period were ''Neue Gedichte'' (''New Poems'') (1907), ''Der Neuen Gedichte Anderer Teil'' (''Another Part of the New Poems'') (1908), the two "Requiem" poems (1909), and the novel ''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'', started in 1904 and completed in January 1910.
During the later part of this decade, Rilke spent extended periods in
Ronda
Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...
, the famous bullfighting centre in southern Spain, where he kept a permanent room at the Hotel Reina Victoria from December 1912 to February 1913.
Duino and the First World War (1911–1919)
![Castello di Duino 0904](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Castello_di_Duino_0904.jpg)
Between October 1911 and May 1912, Rilke stayed at the Castle
Duino
Duino ( sl, Devin, german: Tybein) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, picturesque ...
, near
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
, home of
Princess Marie of
Thurn und Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the en ...
. There, in 1912, he began the poem cycle called the ''
Duino Elegies
The ''Duino Elegies'' (german: Duineser Elegien) are a collection of ten elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He was then "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", and began t ...
'', which would remain unfinished for a decade because of a long-lasting creativity crisis. Rilke had developed an admiration for
El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
as early as 1908, so he visited
Toledo during the winter of 1912/13 to see Greco's paintings. It has been suggested that Greco's manner of depicting angels influenced the conception of the angel in the ''Duino Elegies''. The outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
surprised Rilke during a stay in Germany. He was unable to return to Paris, where his property was confiscated and auctioned. He spent the greater part of the war in Munich. From 1914 to 1916 he had a turbulent affair with the painter
Lou Albert-Lasard
Lou Albert-Lasard (1885 in Metz – July 1969 in Paris) was an Expressionist painter.
She was born in 1885 in Metz (then part of Germany) to a Jewish banking family. From 1908 until 1914, she studied art in Munich, where she and her sister, ...
. Rilke was called up at the beginning of 1916 and had to undertake basic training in Vienna. Influential friends interceded on his behalf – he was transferred to the War Records Office and discharged from the military on 9 June 1916. He returned to Munich, interrupted by a stay at manor in Westphalia. The traumatic experience of military service, a reminder of the horrors of the military academy, almost completely silenced him as a poet.
Switzerland and Muzot (1919–1926)
![Maison rilke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Maison_rilke.jpg)
On 11 June 1919, Rilke travelled from Munich to Switzerland. He met Polish-German painter
Baladine Klossowska
Baladine Klossowska or Kłossowska (21 October 1886 — 11 September 1969) was a German painter. Originating from an artistic Jewish family with roots in Lithuania, she moved from Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) to Paris, France, at the t ...
, with whom he was in relationship to his death in 1926. The outward motive was an invitation to lecture in Zurich, but the real reason was the wish to escape the post-war chaos and take up his work on the ''Duino Elegies'' once again. The search for a suitable and affordable place to live proved to be very difficult. Among other places, Rilke lived in Soglio,
Locarno
, neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra
, twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia
* Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
...
and Berg am Irchel. It was only in mid-1921 that was he able to find a permanent residence in the Château de Muzot in the commune of
Veyras, close to
Sierre
Sierre (; german: Siders, ; frp, Siérro, ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 16,332.
Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun (french: Cité du Soleil) for ...
in Valais. In an intense creative period, Rilke completed the ''Duino Elegies'' in several weeks in February 1922. Before and after this period, Rilke rapidly wrote both parts of the poem cycle ''
Sonnets to Orpheus
The ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' (german: Die Sonette an Orpheus) are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by the Bohemian- Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). It was first published the following year. Rilke, who is "widely recognized ...
'' containing 55 entire sonnets. Together, these two have often been taken as constituting the high points of Rilke's work. In May 1922, Rilke's patron
Werner Reinhart Werner Reinhart (19 March 1884 – 29 August 1951) was a Swiss merchant, philanthropist, amateur clarinetist, and patron of composers and writers, particularly Igor Stravinsky and Rainer Maria Rilke. Reinhart knew and corresponded with many artist ...
bought and renovated Muzot so that Rilke could live there rent-free.
During this time, Reinhart introduced Rilke to his protégée, the Australian violinist
Alma Moodie
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie (12 September 18987 March 1943) was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as the foremost female violinist during the inter-war years, and s ...
.
Rilke was so impressed with her playing that he wrote in a letter: "What a sound, what richness, what determination. That and the ''Sonnets to Orpheus'', those were two strings of the same voice. And she plays mostly
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
! Muzot has received its musical christening..."
From 1923 on, Rilke increasingly struggled with health problems that necessitated many long stays at a
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
in
Territet
Territet (Montreux) is a locality which is part of the Montreux commune, in the Vaud canton, Switzerland.
Geography
Territet is located between the city center of Montreux and the village of Veytaux, within the municipality of Montreux, on t ...
near
Montreux
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...
on
Lake Geneva
, image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg
, caption = Satellite image
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = Switzerland, France
, coords =
, lake_type = Glacial lak ...
. His long stay in Paris between January and August 1925 was an attempt to escape his illness through a change in location and living conditions. Despite this, numerous important individual poems appeared in the years 1923–1926 (including ''Gong'' and ''Mausoleum''), as well as his abundant lyrical work in French. His book of French poems ''Vergers'' was published in 1926.
In 1924 began writing poems to Rilke, who wrote back with approximately 50 poems of his own and called her verse a ''Herzlandschaft'' (landscape of the heart).
This was the only time Rilke had a productive poetic collaboration throughout all his work.
Mitterer also visited Rilke.
In 1950 her ''Correspondence in Verse'' with Rilke was published and received much praise.
Rilke supported the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
in 1917 as well as the
Bavarian Soviet Republic
The Bavarian Soviet Republic, or Munich Soviet Republic (german: Räterepublik Baiern, Münchner Räterepublik),Hollander, Neil (2013) ''Elusive Dove: The Search for Peace During World War I''. McFarland. p.283, note 269. was a short-lived unre ...
in 1919. He became friends with
Ernst Toller
Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionism (theatre), Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived B ...
and mourned the deaths of
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialist, Marxist philosopher and anti-war activist. Successively, she was a member of the Proletariat party, ...
,
Kurt Eisner
Kurt Eisner (; 14 May 1867 21 February 1919)"Kurt Eisner – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica.com webpageBritannica-KurtEisner. was a German politician, revolutionary, journalist, and theatre c ...
, and
Karl Liebknecht
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag from ...
. He confided that of the five or six newspapers he read daily, those on the
far left came closest to his own opinions.
He developed a reputation for supporting left-wing causes and thus, out of fear for his own safety, became more reticent about politics after the Bavarian Republic was crushed by the right-wing
Freikorps
(, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
.
In January and February 1926, Rilke wrote three letters to the Mussolini-adversary Aurelia Gallarati Scotti in which he praised
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
and described fascism as a healing agent.
Death and burial
Shortly before his death, Rilke's illness was diagnosed as
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
. He suffered ulcerous sores in his mouth, pain troubled his stomach and intestines, and he struggled with increasingly low spirits.
Open-eyed, he died in the arms of his doctor on 29 December 1926, in the Valmont Sanatorium in Switzerland. He was buried on 2 January 1927, in the
Raron
Raron (french: Rarogne) is a municipality in the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
History
Raron is first mentioned around 1101–1200 as ''Rarogni''. In 1146 it was mentioned as ''Rarun''.
A settlement on the Heidnisch ...
cemetery to the west of
Visp
Visp (french: Viège) is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
Geography
Visp lies in the Rhône valley, at the confluence of the Vispa and the Rhône, west of Brig-Glis.
Visp has an area, , of . Of ...
.
[Excerpt from "Reading Rilke – Reflections on the Problems of Translation"](_blank)
by William H. Gass
William Howard Gass (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, and philosophy professor. He wrote three novels, three collections of short stories, a collection of novellas, and seven vol ...
(1999) ; featured in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 2000. Accessed 18 August 2010
Rilke had chosen as his own epitaph this poem:
Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust,
Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel
Lidern.
Rose, o pure contradiction, desire
to be no one's sleep beneath so many
lids.
A myth developed surrounding his death and roses. It was said: "To honour a visitor, the Egyptian beauty
Nimet Eloui Bey, Rilke gathered some roses from his garden. While doing so, he pricked his hand on a thorn. This small wound failed to heal, grew rapidly worse, soon his entire arm was swollen, and his other arm became affected as well", and so he died.
Writings
''The Book of Hours''
Rilke's three complete cycles of poems that constitute ''The Book of Hours'' (') were published by
Insel Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag.
In January 2010 the ...
in April 1905. These poems explore the Christian search for God and the nature of Prayer, using symbolism from Saint Francis and Rilke's observation of Orthodox Christianity during his travels in Russia in the early years of the twentieth century.
''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge''
Rilke wrote his only novel, ' (translated as ''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge''), while living in Paris, completing the work in 1910. This semi-autobiographical novel adopts the style and technique that became associated with
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
which entered European fiction and art in the early 20th century. He was inspired by
Sigbjørn Obstfelder
Sigbjørn Obstfelder (21 November 1866 – 29 July 1900) was a 19th-century Norwegian writer and poet.
Background
Obstfelder was born in Stavanger, Norway on November 21, 1866. He was the eighth child in a family of sixteen children, being o ...
's work ''A Priest's Diary'' and
Jens Peter Jacobsen
Jens Peter Jacobsen (7 April 1847 – 30 April 1885) was a Danish novelist, poet, and scientist, in Denmark often just written as "J. P. Jacobsen". He began the naturalist movement in Danish literature and was a part of the Modern Bre ...
's novel ''Niels Lyhne'' (1880) which traces the fate of an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
in a merciless world. Rilke addresses existential themes, profoundly probing the quest for individuality and the significance of death and reflecting on the experience of time as death approaches. He draws considerably on the writings of Nietzsche, whose work he came to know through
Lou Andreas-Salomé
Lou Andreas-Salomé (born either Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé or Lioulia von Salomé, russian: link=no, Луиза Густавовна Саломе; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and a ...
. His work also incorporates impressionistic techniques that were influenced by
Cézanne and
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
(to whom Rilke was secretary in 1905–1906). He combines these techniques and motifs to conjure images of mankind's anxiety and alienation in the face of an increasingly scientific, industrial and reified world. The narrative takes the form of a rambling novelette filled with poetic language and contains, among other things, a retelling of the prodigal son tale, a striking description of death by illness, an ode to the joys of roaming free during childhood, a chilling description of how people wear false faces with others, and a snarky comment about the weirdness of neighbors.
''Duino Elegies''
Rilke began writing the elegies in 1912 while a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis (1855–1934) at
Duino Castle
Duino Castle ( it, Castello di Duino, german: Schloss Duino, sl, Grad Devin) is a fourteenth-century fortification located in Duino (municipality of Duino-Aurisina), near Trieste, Italy, on the cliffs overlooking the Gulf of Trieste.
Building ...
, near
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
on the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...
. During this ten-year period, the elegies languished incomplete for long stretches of time as Rilke suffered frequently from severe
depression, some of which was caused by the events of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and his
conscripted military service. Aside from brief episodes of writing in 1913 and 1915, Rilke did not return to the work until a few years after the war ended. With a sudden, renewed inspiration – writing in a frantic pace he described as "a savage creative storm" – he completed the collection in February 1922 while staying at
Château de Muzot
Château de Muzot (also known as Maison Muzot or Muzot Castle) is a 13th-century fortified manor house located near Veyras in Switzerland's Rhone Valley.
In 1921, it was purchased by Swiss merchant and arts patron Werner Reinhart who then in ...
in
Veyras, in Switzerland's
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
Valley. After their publication and his death shortly thereafter, the ''Duino Elegies'' were quickly recognized by critics and scholars as Rilke's most important work.
[Hoeniger, F. David. "Symbolism and Pattern in Rilke's Duino Elegies" in ''German Life and Letters'', Volume 3, Issue 4 (July 1950), pp. 271–283.][Perloff, Marjorie, "Reading Gass Reading Rilke" in ''Parnassus: Poetry in Review'', Volume 25, Number 1/2 (2001).]
The ''Duino Elegies'' are intensely religious,
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
poems that weigh beauty and existential suffering.
[ Gass, William H. ''Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999).] The poems employ a rich symbolism of
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
s and
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
but not in keeping with typical
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
interpretations. Rilke begins the first elegy in an invocation of philosophical despair, asking: "Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the hierarchies of angels?" (''Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'') and later declares that "every angel is terrifying" (''Jeder Engel ist schrecklich''). While labelling of these poems as "elegies" would typically imply
melancholy and
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somethin ...
ation, many passages are marked by their positive energy and "unrestrained enthusiasm".
Together, the ''Duino Elegies'' are described as a metamorphosis of Rilke's "
ontological
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
torment" and an "impassioned monologue about coming to terms with human existence" discussing themes of "the limitations and insufficiency of the human condition and fractured human consciousness ... man's loneliness, the perfection of the angels, life and death, love and lovers, and the task of the poet".
''Sonnets to Orpheus''
With news of the death of Wera Knoop (1900–1919), his daughter's friend, Rilke was inspired to create and set to work on ''
Sonnets to Orpheus
The ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' (german: Die Sonette an Orpheus) are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by the Bohemian- Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). It was first published the following year. Rilke, who is "widely recognized ...
''. In 1922, between February 2 and 5, he completed the first section of 26 sonnets. For the next few days he focused on the ''Duino Elegies'', completing them on the evening of February 11. Immediately thereafter, he returned to work on the ''Sonnets'' and completed the following section of 29 sonnets in less than two weeks. Throughout the ''Sonnets'', Wera is frequently referenced, both directly by name and indirectly in allusions to a "dancer" and the mythical
Eurydice
Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music.
Etymology
Several meanings for the name ...
. Although Rilke claimed that the entire cycle was inspired by Wera, she appears as a character in only one of the poems. He insisted, however, that "Wera's own figure ... nevertheless governs and moves the course of the whole."
The sonnets' contents are, as is typical of Rilke, highly metaphorical. The character of Orpheus (whom Rilke refers to as the "god with the lyre") appears several times in the cycle, as do other mythical characters such as
Daphne
Daphne (; ; el, Δάφνη, , ), a minor figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater.
There are several versions of the myth in whi ...
. There are also biblical allusions, including a reference to
Esau
Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...
. Other themes involve animals, peoples of different cultures, and time and death.
''Letters to a Young Poet''
![Letterstoayoungpoet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Letterstoayoungpoet.png)
In 1929 a minor writer,
Franz Xaver Kappus
Franz Xaver Kappus (17 May 1883 – 9 October 1966) was an Austrian military officer, journalist, editor and writer who wrote poetry, short-stories, novels and screenplays. Kappus is known chiefly as the military academy cadet who wrote to Austri ...
(1883–1966), published a collection of ten letters that Rilke had written to him when Kappus was a 19-year-old officer cadet studying at the
Theresian Military Academy
The Theresian Military Academy (german: Theresianische Militärakademie, TherMilAk) is a military academy in Austria, where the Austrian Armed Forces train their officers. Founded in 1751, the academy is located in the castle of Wiener Neustadt ...
in
Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land Distr ...
. Rilke had also attended this academy. Between 1902 and 1908 the young Kappus had written Rilke when he was uncertain about his future as a military officer or as a poet. Initially he sought Rilke's advice as to the quality of his poetry and whether he ought to pursue writing as a career. While he declined to comment on Kappus's writings, Rilke advised Kappus on how a poet should feel, love and seek truth in trying to understand and experience the world around him and engage the world of art. These letters offer insight into the ideas and themes that appear in Rilke's poetry and his working process and were written during a key period of Rilke's early artistic development after his reputation as a poet began to be established with the publication of parts of ''
Das Stunden-Buch'' (''The Book of Hours'') and ''
Das Buch der Bilder'' (''The Book of Images'').
Style and themes
Rilke extensively engaged with
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
s,
metonymy
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
and
contradiction
In traditional logic, a contradiction occurs when a proposition conflicts either with itself or established fact. It is often used as a tool to detect disingenuous beliefs and bias. Illustrating a general tendency in applied logic, Aristotle's ...
s in his poetry and prose to convey disbelief and a crisis of faith. Figures from Greek mythology, such as
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
,
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...
and
Orpheus
Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...
, recur as motifs in his poems and are depicted in original interpretations that often double as analogies for his experiences. Rilke's poems also feature figures of
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
s, famously described in the ''Duino Elegies'' as "terrifying" ('); he also occasionally explored the crisis of his Catholic faith, including in his little-known 1898 poem "Visions of Christ", where he depicted
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
as the mother of Jesus' child.
Legacy
![Rilke in Moscow by L](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Rilke_in_Moscow_by_L.Pasternak_%281928%29.jpg)
Rilke is one of the best-selling poets in the United States.
[Komar, Kathleen L. "Rilke in America: A Poet Re-Created" in Heep, Hartmut (editor). ''Unreading Rilke: Unorthodox Approaches to a Cultural Myth'' (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), pp. 155–178.] In popular culture, Rilke is frequently quoted or referenced in television shows, motion pictures, music and other works when these works discuss the subject of love or angels. His work is often described as "mystical" and has been quoted and referenced by
self-help
Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...
authors.
Rilke has been reinterpreted "as a master who can lead us to a more fulfilled and less anxious life".
Rilke's work has influenced several poets and writers, including
William H. Gass
William Howard Gass (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, critic, and philosophy professor. He wrote three novels, three collections of short stories, a collection of novellas, and seven vol ...
,
Galway Kinnell
Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, ''Selected Poems'' and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright. From 1989 to 1 ...
,
Sidney Keyes
Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (27 May 1922 – 29 April 1943) was an English poet of World War II.
Life
Early years and education
Keyes was born on 27 May 1922. His mother died shortly afterwards and he was raised by his paternal grandparent ...
,
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the ...
,
Robert Bly
Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ' ...
,
W. S. Merwin
William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...
,
John Ashbery
John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic.
Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...
, novelist
Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
and the philosopher
Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 ''magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics.
Life
Family an ...
. British poet
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
(1907–1973) has been described as "Rilke's most influential English disciple" and he frequently "paid homage to him" or used the imagery of angels in his work.
[Cohn, Stephen (translator). "Introduction" in Rilke, Rainer Maria. ''Duino Elegies: A Bilingual Edition'' (Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1989), pp. 17–18. Quote: "Auden, Rilke's most influential English disciple, frequently paid homage to him, as in these lines which tell of the Elegies and of their difficult and chancy genesis..."]
Works
Complete works
* Rainer Maria Rilke, ''Sämtliche Werke in 12 Bänden'' (''Complete Works in 12 Volumes''), published by Rilke Archive in association with Ruth Sieber-Rilke, edited by Ernst Zinn. Frankfurt am Main (1976)
* Rainer Maria Rilke, ''Werke'' (''Works''). Annotated edition in four volumes with supplementary fifth volume, published by Manfred Engel, Ulrich Fülleborn, Dorothea Lauterbach, Horst Nalewski and August Stahl. Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig (1996 and 2003)
Volumes of poetry
* ''Leben und Lieder (Life and Songs)'' (1894)
* ''Larenopfer (Offerings to the
Lares
Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these.
Lares ...
)'' (1895)
* ''Traumgekrönt (Dream-Crowned)'' (1897)
* ''Advent (Advent)'' (1898)
* ''Das Stunden-Buch (
The Book of Hours
''The Book of Hours'' (german: Das Stunden-Buch) is a collection of poetry by the Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). The collection was written between 1899 and 1903 in three parts, and first published in Leipzi ...
)''
** ''Das Buch vom mönchischen Leben (The Book of Monastic Life)'' (1899)
** ''Das Buch von der Pilgerschaft (The Book of Pilgrimage)'' (1901)
** ''Geldbaum'' (1901)
** ''Das Buch von der Armut und vom Tode (The Book of Poverty and Death)'' (1903)
* ''Das Buch der Bilder (
The Book of Images
''The Book of Images'' (german: Das Buch der Bilder) is a collection of poetry by the Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926). It was first published in 1902 by Axel Juncker Verlag.
It consists of individual poems wr ...
)'' (4 parts, 1902–1906)
* ''Neue Gedichte (
New Poems)'' (1907)
* ''Duineser Elegien (
Duino Elegies
The ''Duino Elegies'' (german: Duineser Elegien) are a collection of ten elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He was then "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", and began t ...
)'' (1922)
* ''Sonette an Orpheus (
Sonnets to Orpheus
The ''Sonnets to Orpheus'' (german: Die Sonette an Orpheus) are a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922 by the Bohemian- Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). It was first published the following year. Rilke, who is "widely recognized ...
)'' (1922)
Prose collections
* ''Geschichten vom Lieben Gott'' (''Stories of God'') (Collection of tales, 1900)
* ''Auguste Rodin'' (1903)
* ''
Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke'' (
The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke') (Lyric story, 1906)
* ''Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge'' (''
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
''The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge'', first published as ''Journal of My Other Self'', M. D. Herter Norton (tr.). New York: W. W. Norton, 1949, 1992. Translator's Foreword, p. 8. is a 1910 novel by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The nove ...
'') (Novel, 1910)
Letters
Collected letters
*''Gesammelte Briefe in sechs Bänden'' (''Collected Letters in Six Volumes''), published by Ruth Sieber-Rilke and Carl Sieber. Leipzig (1936–1939)
*''Briefe'' (''Letters''), published by the Rilke Archive in Weimar. Two volumes, Wiesbaden (1950, reprinted 1987 in single volume).
*''Briefe in Zwei Bänden'' (''Letters in Two Volumes'') (Horst Nalewski, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1991)
Other volumes of letters
* ''Briefe an Auguste Rodin'' (Insel Verlag, 1928)
* ''Briefwechsel mit Marie von Thurn und Taxis'', two volumes, edited by Ernst Zinn with a foreword by Rudolf Kassner (Editions Max Niehans, 1954)
* ''Briefwechsel mit Thankmar von Münchhausen 1913 bis 1925'' (Suhrkamp Insel Verlag, 2004)
* ''Briefwechsel mit Rolf von Ungern-Sternberg und weitere Dokumente zur Übertragung der Stances von Jean Moréas'' (Suhrkamp Insel Verlag, 2002)
* ''The Dark Interval – Letters for the Grieving Heart'', edited and translated by (New York: Random House, 2018).
*
Noi siamo le api dell’invisibile', Milano, De Piante Editore, 2022, ISBN 979-12-803-6219-3
See also
*
Baladine Klossowska
Baladine Klossowska or Kłossowska (21 October 1886 — 11 September 1969) was a German painter. Originating from an artistic Jewish family with roots in Lithuania, she moved from Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) to Paris, France, at the t ...
*
Rainer Maria Rilke Foundation
The Rainer Maria Rilke Foundation (in French language, French: ''Fondation Rainer Maria Rilke'') was established in 1986 in Sierre, Switzerland, on the patronage of the municipality. Its goal is to promote the knowledge of Rainer Maria Rilke's wor ...
in
Sierre
Sierre (; german: Siders, ; frp, Siérro, ) is the capital municipality of the district of Sierre, located in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. It has a population of 16,332.
Sierre is nicknamed City of the Sun (french: Cité du Soleil) for ...
, Switzerland
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
Further reading
Biographies
*
Corbett, Rachel, ''You Must Change Your Life: the Story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin'', New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2016.
*Tapper, Mirjam, ''Resa med Rilke'', Mita bokförlag.
*Torgersen, Eric, ''Dear Friend: Rainer Maria Rilke and Paula Modersohn-Becker'', Northwestern University Press, 1998.
*Von Thurn und Taxis, Princess Marie, ''The Poet and The Princess: Memories of Rainer Maria Rilke'', Amun Press, 2017
Critical studies
*Chamberlain, Lesley, ''Rilke the last Inward Man'', London: Pushkin Press 2022.
*Engel, Manfred and Lauterbach, Dorothea (ed.), ''Rilke Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung'', Stuttgart: Metzler, 2004.
*Erika, A and Metzger, Michael, ''A Companion to the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke'', Rochester, 2001.
*
Gass, William H. ''Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation'', Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
*Goldsmith, Ulrich, ed., ''Rainer Maria Rilke, a verse concordance to his complete lyrical poetry''. Leeds: W. S. Maney, 1980.
*Hutchinson, Ben. ''Rilke's Poetics of Becoming'', Oxford: Legenda, 2006.
*Leeder, Karen, and Robert Vilain (eds), ''The Cambridge Companion to Rilke.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
*Mood, John, ''A New Reading of Rilke's 'Elegies': Affirming the Unity of 'life-and-death''
Lewiston, New York
Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York.
The Town of Lewiston is on the western bord ...
:
Edwin Mellen Press
The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international Independent business, independent company and Academic publisher, academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston (town), New York, Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Lampete ...
, 2009. .
*Numerous contributors, ''A Reconsideration of Rainer Maria Rilke'', ''Agenda'' poetry magazine, vol. 42 nos. 3–4, 2007. .
*Pechota Vuilleumier, Cornelia, ''Heim und Unheimlichkeit bei Rainer Maria Rilke und Lou Andreas-Salomé. Literarische Wechselwirkungen''. Olms, Hildesheim, 2010.
*Ryan, Judith. ''Rilke, Modernism, and Poetic Tradition''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
*Schwarz, Egon, ''Poetry and Politics in the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke''. Frederick Ungar, 1981. .
*Neuman, Claude, ''The Sonnets to Orpheus'' and ''Selected Poems'', English and French rhymed and metered translations, trilingual German-English-French editions, Editions www.ressouvenances.fr, 2017, 2018
External links
''Rainer Maria Rilke: Letters to a Young Poet'', The first letter
Rainer Rilke and his Poem Black Cat*
*
*
*
*
Rainer Maria Rilke, Profileat
Poets.org
The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...
International Rilke Society
*
Translator of Rilke into English, interviewwith Joanna Macy (2010 original, 2019 updated: transcript and audio) for OnBeing.org
Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke: a new translationA new translation by Timothy Watson published on February 28, 2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rilke, Rainer Maria
1875 births
1926 deaths
19th-century Austrian male writers
19th-century Austrian poets
20th-century novelists
20th-century Austrian poets
Analysands of Lou Andreas-Salomé
Austrian expatriates in France
Austrian expatriates in Switzerland
Austrian people of German Bohemian descent
Austrian male poets
Austro-Hungarian writers
Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I
Deaths from cancer in Switzerland
Deaths from leukemia
French-language poets
German-language poets
Modernist poets
Writers from Prague
Sonneteers
Austrian male novelists
French-language writers from Austria