This collection of haunting, mystical poems of the night by the great Rainer Maria Rilke is the only English translation to bring them all together
In 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke presented his friend Rudolf Kassner with a notebook, containing 22 poems meticulously inscribed in his own hand and bearing the title Poems to Night. This evocative sequence of poems, which echoes some of the great themes of German romanticism, is now thought to represent one of the key stages in the creative breakthrough and spiritual evolution of the preeminent European poet of the twentieth century.
This translation was the 1st to bring all the poems together in English and is enhanced by the translator's valuable introduction and a rich selection of further poems Rilke dedicated to night at various stages of his life, providing fascinating insight into Rilke’s development.
The poems recall all of the great poet’s important themes: death and longing, the troubling reconciliation of beauty and suffering, and a search for transcendance. These deep questions circle the imagery of night in Rilke’s intensely lyrical style: darkness, the stars and the moon wheel through the verses, and the play of light and dark beomes an evocation of life’s duality. No other poet was as singularly devoted to beauty or as capable of gifting its consolations to the reader—a volume to cherish on stormy nights and peaceful ones.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the great German writers. A master of both poetry and prose, he is best known for Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.
View titles by Rainer Maria Rilke
O now we have, with what whimpering caressed ourselves, shoulders and eyelids. And night has withdrawn into the rooms like a wounded beast, in pain through us.
Were you elected from all for me, was the sister not sufficient? Lovely as a valley to me was your essence, and now too, from the prow of the heavens
it bows down an unfailing apparition and he takes possession. Where to go? Alas, with the gesture of mourning you incline towards me, un-consoled.
List of Poems 9 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 15 Poems to Night 29 Poems to Night: Drafts 59 Further Poems and Sketches around the Theme of Night 69 Biographical Notes 87
This collection of haunting, mystical poems of the night by the great Rainer Maria Rilke is the only English translation to bring them all together
In 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke presented his friend Rudolf Kassner with a notebook, containing 22 poems meticulously inscribed in his own hand and bearing the title Poems to Night. This evocative sequence of poems, which echoes some of the great themes of German romanticism, is now thought to represent one of the key stages in the creative breakthrough and spiritual evolution of the preeminent European poet of the twentieth century.
This translation was the 1st to bring all the poems together in English and is enhanced by the translator's valuable introduction and a rich selection of further poems Rilke dedicated to night at various stages of his life, providing fascinating insight into Rilke’s development.
The poems recall all of the great poet’s important themes: death and longing, the troubling reconciliation of beauty and suffering, and a search for transcendance. These deep questions circle the imagery of night in Rilke’s intensely lyrical style: darkness, the stars and the moon wheel through the verses, and the play of light and dark beomes an evocation of life’s duality. No other poet was as singularly devoted to beauty or as capable of gifting its consolations to the reader—a volume to cherish on stormy nights and peaceful ones.
Author
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the great German writers. A master of both poetry and prose, he is best known for Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.
View titles by Rainer Maria Rilke
Excerpt
O now we have, with what whimpering caressed ourselves, shoulders and eyelids. And night has withdrawn into the rooms like a wounded beast, in pain through us.
Were you elected from all for me, was the sister not sufficient? Lovely as a valley to me was your essence, and now too, from the prow of the heavens
it bows down an unfailing apparition and he takes possession. Where to go? Alas, with the gesture of mourning you incline towards me, un-consoled.
List of Poems 9 Acknowledgements 13 Introduction 15 Poems to Night 29 Poems to Night: Drafts 59 Further Poems and Sketches around the Theme of Night 69 Biographical Notes 87
