Selected Poems - by Rainer M Rilke (Paperback)

About the Book

MacIntyre's selections of Rilke's poetry are from Das Buch der Bilder (Book of Images) and Neue Gedichte (New Poems). MacIntyre felt that in these poems, Rilke reached particular perfection.

Book Synopsis

These poems, selected from Das Buch der Bilder and the two parts of Neue Gedichte, show Rilke's deep concern with sculpture and painting. Written in his less mystical period (1900-1908), the poems exhibit Rilke's particular artistic and poetic power.

Rainer Maria Rilke was one of Germany's most important poets. His influences include the paintings of the Worpswedders and the French Impressionists, the sculpture of Rodin (to whom he was both friend and secretary), and the poetry of Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé, and other symbolists. His poetry is innovative, enigmatic, and entertainingly idiosyncratic. C.F. MacIntyre's translations are both true to the original and poetic in their own right, and in each book he includes an introduction and notes. German text faces the English translation.

From the Back Cover

Strange violin, are you following me? In how many towns when I am alone your lonely night has called to mine? Do hundreds play you, or only one?

from The Neighbor

Review Quotes

"Here are translations that are close to the original, and are English, and are poetic. Few English translations from the German have all these qualities at once."--"New York Herald Tribune"

About the Author

C.F. MacIntyre (d.1967) was well known as a translator. In addition to works by Rilke, he translated Goethe's Faust and many of the French symbolists: Nerval, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Corbière, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Laforgue, and Valéry. His volumes of original poems include The Black Bull, Cafés and Cathedrals, and Poems.