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Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus

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Brilliant poem, horrible translation

Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618565892

Book Description

Long considered the definitive English translation of Rilke's brilliant and haunting masterworks, A. Poulin's edition of Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus provides an essential introduction to some of the most passionate and intensely creative visionary poetry of the twentieth century. With a new foreword by the esteemed poet Mark Doty and a fresh new design, Poulin's revered translation is certain to acquaint a new generation of readers with the works of Rilke.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant poem, horrible translation.......2007-05-07

The Duino Elegies is one of the most breathtaking turns of 20th-century poetry (I don't want to say "great" or "canonical" here) but it has suffered a long history of bad translations into English that push the agendas of translators over faithfulness to the text. You're better off finding an early translation than picking this up, at least until a (good) poet takes the project on--Jerome Rothenberg, where are you when we need you?

Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus

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A Rilke that reads as if Rilke wrote in English
Rilke rains on my parade

Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation
Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus
Sonnets to Orpheus
Duino Elegies (Green Integer, 93)
Poems from the Book of Hours: Das Stundenbuch (New Directions Paperbook, 408)

ASIN: 0395250587

Book Description

Rilke is one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century. In his poetry, Rilke addresses the problems of death, God, and "destructive time," and attempts to overcome and transform these problems into an indestructive inner world.

Customer Reviews:

A Rilke that reads as if Rilke wrote in English.......2006-02-22

I've found other translations of Rilke obtuse, frustratingly difficult to get the first layer of sense out of, let alone the multiple layers and connections going all the way down. Poulin's translation renders Rilke crisply, briskly musical, urgent, hallucinatory, and true. I read these words in this order and they succeed in completely breaking me open. Which I count as a poetic success.

Rilke rains on my parade.......2000-04-04

While audio readings are usually annoying (check out T.S. Eliot reading T.S. Eliot) this particular version benefits from Mitchell's suberb translations and Rilke's vivid imagery. Who among the angels hierarchies....

DUINO ELEGIES (Shambhala Pocket Classics)

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The Epitome of Poetry
Disrespectful Translation: Rilke & William Carlos Williams?
Breathtaking
Angel-Food Cake - with a twist
awe-ful...

DUINO ELEGIES (Shambhala Pocket Classics)
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Book of Images
New Poems: A Revised Bilingual Edition
Uncollected Poems: Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Sonnets to Orpheus

ASIN: 0877738521
Release Date: 1992-11-03

Book Description

tr Gary Miranda

Customer Reviews:

The Epitome of Poetry.......2002-03-29

For me, at least, Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies are the very epitome of poetry. I know others who, even though they admire Rilke above all other poets, prefer other "Rilke" poems, such as "Evening." For me, however, it has always been, and always will be, the Elegies. Certainly they are the most extravagant and elusive of Rilke's poems, even for those who count others among their favorites.

Rilke, who longed for a place of solitude in the country, arrived at the fortress-like Castle Duino, high above the Adriatic, near Trieste, in December 1911. His hostess was Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe, who had invited Rilke to translate Dante's Vita Nuova with her. Princess Marie, however, soon left for more sociable climes and Rilke was left alone on the stormy, wind-swept cliffs of Duino. Rilke, at this time of his life, was known to commit himself to a strict regimen of work. Nevertheless, his poems, he has written, always seemed to burst upon him suddenly, like a thunderstorm on a hot summer's afternoon. And, one afternoon at Duino, the opening line of the first elegy burst upon Rilke like a flash of lightening.

There is no problem with the Duino Elegies...if one reads and comprehends German. If one doesn't, however, the problems of translation can be enormous. Translation, always a fragile task, becomes even more so when it involves poetry, and reaches its zenith with a work as sublime as Rilke's Duino Elegies. So many versions of these gorgeous poems exist (at least twenty), that the Elegies are certainly suffering from a case of "translation overkill."

In the original German, the Duino Elegies are the most sublime expressions of awe, of terror, of love, of splendor, of Life, that have ever been set down by the hand of man. In hands other than Rilke's, however, they can seem clumsy and more than a bit melodramatic. Rilke wrote delicately-calibrated poetry, without excess words and, the dread of all translators, the hyphenated word. But, all that aside, reading the Elegies in translation, any translation, is better than not reading them at all.

No matter how "angelic" these poems may seem, never doubt that they are expression of life in the here and now. As Rilke, himself, tells us, "the world exists nowhere but within us." These gorgeous poems are about the difficulties of living in this world, of not being heard by the angels, and of the tragedy that can so easily befall us. They are about Rilke's desire for solitude and his desire to escape it, i.e., the need and the utter impossibility of understanding and being understood completely in this life.

Although many of the translations are flawed, as translation by its very nature must be, the Duino Elegies remain the epitome of poetry. They are a cry of terror, of awe, of joy, of splendor at the lonely and solitary condition of man.

Disrespectful Translation: Rilke & William Carlos Williams?.......2001-02-16

Rilke's "Duino Elegies" form one of the most perfect collections of lyric poetry you can ever hope to get your hands on. Unfortunately for the David Young translation, however, there is much less Rilke than there ought to be; a series of strange decisions on Young's part casts a shadow over even the brighter moments of his rendering of this masterpiece.

For example, Rilke was a genius at enjambment; that is, he was a master at placing his most important words at the very end or very beginning of a line, in order to highlight them. Think of the first line, which ends with "Engel," splitting it from the first word of the next line, "Ordnungen." (Young merely gives these words together, as "angelic orders," at the end of the third line.) By divorcing the angels from their orders in the poem's very first line, Rilke sets the tone that not all is right in the heavens.

And Rilke's line breaks are even more important than those of other poets, because they are few and far between, since his lines are nice and fat, often more than 13 syllables. Young's lines, on the other hand, are broken up into tiny 2- to 8-syllable, bite-sized chunks. This changes not only the rhythm of Rilke's verse--which obviously would have changed anyway, in translation--but its compositional emphases, as the structure of the most important lines is simply whisked away. And that is a tragedy.

Young's excuse for this unfortunate decision? He happened, while he was working on the translation, "to re-read some of William Carlos Williams' late poetry," and he liked Williams' stubbier, tri-partite lines. Rilke, however, is not William Carlos Williams, and Young's rendering of Rilke as Williams suffers because of this incongruity. (Oddly enough, though, Williams is another poet for whom every line break bears an awful lot of weight; too bad Young didn't carry that respect for enjambment into his work on the "Duino Elegies.")

Those interested in Rilke should do themselves a favor and pick up Mitchell's translation. I simply can't recommend this edition. It gets three stars because, despite the muddle, there are SOME beautifully rendered lines, and some of the power of Rilke manages to squeeze through. And that's always a wonderful thing.

Breathtaking.......2000-07-15

"For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror we can just barely endure, and we admire it so because it calmly disdains to destroy us. Every angel is terrible." - Rainer Maria Rilke, First Elegy

The Duino Elegies are quite possibly the greatest work of Rainer Maria Rilke, himself one of the greatest poets, German language or otherwise, of all time. The elegies, writen in the cold vast chambers of Duino Castle, deal with all the greatest issues of human existence: love, death, tragedy, God, and life's very meaning. Their language reflects their origin: like the Castle's empty stone hallways, the words are perfectly formed; they are fragile and beautiful; weightless and profound. Rilke's first elegy begins with a reflection on the awesome, terrifying power of beauty. He longs to experience it, but knows that it would destroy him. As he writes on, the reader grows to understand and feel not only Rilke's longing, but his fear. The terrible beauty, looming behind all the elegies, is present in the text. The poems inspire wonder, raise profound quetions with ineffable answers, and fills us with awe as it calmly disdains to destroy us.

The German text is perfect, but MacIntyre's translation is splendid and best conveys the work's haunting and desolate undertones. While it seems to me that everyone should own and cherish the Duino Elegies, it is an absolute requirement for anyone seeking to construct a serious collection of great poetry.

Angel-Food Cake - with a twist.......2000-06-04

Rilke's poetry (to the extent the translation reflects it - which I am not competent to judge) is light, loose and flowing with an undercurrent of existential disturbance that invites the reader to "think" beyond the lightly-resting beauty of the text and grapple with the psychological, epistemological and philosophical questions he raises. I tend to enjoy poetry a great deal - even bland poets are enjoyable to me - so my sense of the poetic value of this translation is not necessarily a valid source for other readers. However, while his verse's attractiveness is important to my valuation of this work, what impressed me more was the depth Rilke had managed to cram into such short, elegant poems. I recommend the work if only for the exercise of matching wits with Rilke's existential concerns.

Kelly Whiting

awe-ful..........2000-05-28

Considered the quintessence of Rilke's work, the Elegies invite the reader into conversations with chasms of despair and angels of light... and don't forget: "Every angel is terrible."

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Duino Elegies Bilingual Edition
Rainer Maria Rilke , and C.F. MacIntyre
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sonnets to Orpheus Bilingual Edition
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ASIN: 0520229231

Book Description

Begun in 1912 at the castle of Duino near Trieste, these ten Elegies were finally completed, after a decade of sporadic and protracted creation, at the Château Muzot in the Swiss Valais. Rilke considered them his greatest achievement, and, as MacIntyre suggests, they are "among the great and unforgettable poetry of the world."
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.

A Rilke Trilogy: Duino Elegies/Letters to a Young Poet/the Sonnets to Orpheus/Boxed Set

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A Rilke Trilogy: Duino Elegies/Letters to a Young Poet/the Sonnets to Orpheus/Boxed Set
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Shambhala Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0877739536

Rilke's Late Poetry: Duino Elegies, the Sonnets to Orpheus, and Selected Last Poems

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Rilke's Late Poetry: Duino Elegies, the Sonnets to Orpheus, and Selected Last Poems
Rainer Maria Rilke , and Graham Good
Manufacturer: Ronsdale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Duino Elegies (Green Integer, 93)

ASIN: 1553800249

Book Description

The late poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the summits of European poetry in the twentieth century. Completed in 1922, as were T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and James Joyce's Ulysses, Duino Elegies ranks with them as a classic of literary Modernism and as an inquiry into the spiritual crisis of modernity. The ten long poems grapple with the issue of how the human condition and the role of art have altered in the modern era, with the decline of religion and the acceleration of technology.

1922 also saw the unexpected birth and completion of a new work, The Sonnets to Orpheus, a cycle of 55 sonnets giving lyrical expression to the philosophical insights gained in the Elegies. This is dedicated to Orpheus, the mythic singer and lyre player, who becomes a symbol for Rilke of the acceptance of transience in life and transformation in art.

The third part of the late poetry consists of the less known brief lyrics Rilke wrote in the five years prior to his death in December 1926. These last poems constitute a kind of third testament, along with the Elegies and Sonnets. Graham Good's edition is the first to combine translations of all three into a single volume. His versions represent the meanings and echo the sound patterns of the original within fluid and readable English verse, while the introduction and detailed commentary elucidate the contexts, themes and allusions to help make Rilke's late poetry accessible to contemporary poetry lovers and spiritual seekers.

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Ein Werk für das Unendliche
Good poet - bad translator
Acclaimed translator gives us the "Duino Elegies"

Duino Elegies: A Bilingual Edition
Rainer Maria Rilke , and Edward Snow
Manufacturer: North Point Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0865475466

Book Description

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic
orders? and even if one of them pressed me
suddenly to his heart: I'd be consumed
in that overwhelming existence. For beauty is nothing
but the beginning of terror, which we can just barely endure,
and we stand in awe of it as it coolly disdains
to destroy us. Every angel is terrifying.
-from "The First Elegy"

Over the last fifteen years, in his two volumes of New Poems as well as in The Book of Images and Uncollected Poems, Edward Snow has emerged as one of Rainer Maria Rilke's most able English-language interpreters. In his translations, Snow adheres faithfully to the intent of Rilke's German while constructing nuanced, colloquial poems in English.

Written in a period of spiritual crisis between 1912 and 1922, the poems that compose the Duino Elegies are the ones most frequently identified with the Rilkean sensibility. With their symbolic landscapes, prophetic proclamations, and unsettling intensity, these complex and haunting poems rank among the outstanding visionary works of the century.

Customer Reviews:

Ein Werk für das Unendliche.......2004-10-15

Rilkes Duineser Elegien stehen an der Spitze, was die poetische Schöpfung des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts betrifft. Sie sind ein metaphysisches Nachdenken über den Menschen und die Realität. Rilke überlegt sich die menschliche Bestimmung. Dafür, dass das Leben eine vorübergehende und peinliche Erfahrung ist, zeigt er uns die Engel als ein überbewusstes Wesen. Im Gegensatz zu dem Menschen wohnen sie an einem offenen Raum. Es gelingt Ihnen das Leben und den Tod zu vereinigen.Dort findet das reine Geschehen statt. Wegen ihres selbstlosen Erlebnis sind die Helden, die Liebenden, die Kinder und die früh Verstorbenen nah daran, nach den Ordnungen der Engel zu gelangen.
Die verkündete Nacht ist zu der Schein-Unsichtbar Verwandlung geneigt, weil sie eine tiefere Wahrnehmung ermöglicht. Rilkes poetische Sprache, Rhythmus und Bildnis sind atemlos.

Good poet - bad translator.......2000-06-01

Yes, Rilke is a genius, whose poetry is abstract and disturbing yet also direct, concise and perfectly written.

Unfortunately, Snow's translation does not manage to capture Rilke's power in full flow, as other translators have managed to do so. The Picador edition is especially superior (although still flawed). By all means buy the Elegies, which are among the best pieces of literature of this century, and possibly the best collection of lyric poetry of all time - but if you buy this edition, you might not realise that.

Acclaimed translator gives us the "Duino Elegies".......2000-05-08

Edward Snow is one of the most respected translators of Rilke. He's been working his way through Rilke's poetry and now offers a superb version of the "Duino Elegies," long considered the high point of Rilke's career.

There are many existing translations of Rilke's masterpiece, of varying quality. Snow's version reads quite well and compares favorably to acclaimed versions by Mitchell and others.

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Duino Elegies
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

One of the literary masterpieces of the century, this translation is now presented with facing-page German.

We have a marvelous, almost legendary, image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rilke was staying at a castle (Duino) on the sea near Trieste. One morning he walked out on the battlements and climbed down to where the rocks dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the wind, which was blowing with great force, Rilke seemed to hear a voice: Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?). He wrote these words, the opening of the first Duino Elegy, in his notebook, then went inside to continue what was to be his major work and one of the literary masterpieces of the century.

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Duino Elegies: The Sonnets to Orpheus
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Hulogosi Communications Inc.,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

tr Robert Hunter, bilingual, w/26 blockprints

Creativity;: A theme from Faust and the Duino Elegies. An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 2 March 1961

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Creativity;: A theme from Faust and the Duino Elegies. An inaugural lecture delivered before the University of Oxford on 2 March 1961
Ernst Leopold Stahl
Manufacturer: Clarendon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007IT1JG

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