Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus

by Rainer Maria Rilke
Duino Elegies and the Sonnets of Orpheus  
published 2005 by Mariner Books
binding Paperback
isbn 0618565892   (isbn13: 9780618565894)
pages 240
description Long considered the definitive English translation of Rilke's brilliant and haunting masterworks, A. Poulin's edition of Duino Elegies and The Sonne...more
date added
02-01-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 161)



Jake
04/23/08

Read in April, 2008
recommends it for: Poets, lost souls, hippies with a bent for the bookshelf
I suspect I would have gotten a lot more out of this book, on an emotional level, were I more poetically-inclined/-informed/-etc. As it is, what few poems I understood intellectually were outstanding.

This is one of those new-fangled high-speed books printed in dual languages. The English translations of the German, the few times I checked them, were both poetically and semantically sound.

I know a huge number of people have gained great insight from reading Rilke's poetic output—but I g...more
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Cory
Cory marked it as to-read
12/01/07

bookshelves: to-read
I need to find out whether or not to finally drink the Rilke Kool-Aid. Looks promising so far:
"Don't be afraid to suffer; replace
the heaviness back on the earth's own weight:
the mountains are heavy, so are the seas"
from The Sonnets to Orpheus: First Series
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Debbie
Debbie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/25/07

Read in May, 2007
Yesterday our campus bookstore had a sale and so I went and bought books including this one. Then instead of doing math homework I laid in the grass and read Rilke out loud to myself for two hours. I didn't mind that my throat got dry after a while.
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Mary
Mary rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/19/08

bookshelves: poetry
Read in March, 2008
I'm not sure how I made it this long without reading and Rilke, but after reading Gravity's Rainbow I felt compelled, finally, to read the poems that so influenced Pynchon. The Duino Elegies are really amazing, even in translation.
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patxi
10/24/07

bookshelves: poesia
Read in October, 2007
Poesía elegiaca, intimista y reflexiva.
De gran belleza, aunque a mi juicio demasiado abstracta. Únicamente, en alguno de los sonetos, se refleja la pasión por la vida y la poesía.
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Matthew
Matthew rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
01/23/08

Read in January, 1985
These poems had a huge impact on me in college. Finally, poems about life! "...animals already know by instinct that we are not comfortably at home in our translated world."
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Stevie Lynne
Stevie Lynne rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/07/07

so FUCKING good. like, SO fucking good. like he built a universe out of nothing. read the stephen mitchell translation-- not the one that's shown in this image.
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andrea
andrea rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
03/23/08

Read in February, 2008
I don't know what's going on for half of this book, but I'm not sure I care--that's how gorgeous some of these lines are. Really lovely and mysterious.
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Sylvia
Sylvia rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/04/07

Read in April, 2007
You pick it up, you fall in love, you put it down, you skip to a different page, you get punched in the face, and you fall in love all over again.
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Heidi
12/28/07

Read in November, 2007
I love me some facing-page translations.
And I love to see someone articulate the love of emptiness and solitude so well.
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Simona
Simona rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
12/19/07

Read in April, 2007
Although I've been attached to the Edward Snow translation, I really liked the intuitive, organic quality of Poulin's.
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Allen
Allen rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
09/01/07

One of the better translations I've read but it is hard to go wrong with RMRilke!
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Michelle
Read in January, 1999
The Duino Eleegies are way better than the Sonnets to Orpheus.
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Robert
Robert rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/28/07

Best if you are in love.
Even better if you shouldn't be.
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ruzmarì
bookshelves: all-timefavorites, poesia
I love it too much to write about it.
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Ben
Ben rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/19/08

Read in September, 2006
Absolutely gorgeous.
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Amy
Amy rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/11/08

 

Erik
Erik added it
09/19/07

 

Jo
11/18/07

bookshelves: poetry
Read in March, 2002
 

Candice
Candice marked it as to-read (review of isbn 0395250587)
02/07/08

bookshelves: to-read
 


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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.51 (137 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.54 (104 ratings)
number of reviews: 16






other editions

Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus (Paperback)
Elegias De Duino Los / Sonetos a Orfeo / Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus (Letras Universales / Universal Writings)
Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus (Audio Cassette)