Duino Elegies, Bilingual edition (University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages & Literatures, No. 81)

by Rainer Maria Rilke

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718 ratings, 4.51 average rating, 64 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		63%
4		24%
3		10%
2		0%
1		0%

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published

August 1st 1961 by University of California Press

details

Paperback, 89 pages

isbn

0520010736 (isbn13: 9780520010734)

description

Rilke considered the Elegies his greatest achievement. Begun in 1912 at the castle of Duino near Trieste, these ten Elegies were finally completed aft…more

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Mar 04, 2008

Taka rated it:

(review of isbn 0865476071)

bookshelves: german_lit, japan_jul07-present

Read in April, 2008

Good!

Having read two translations of Duino Elegies by Stephen Mitchell and Edward Snow, I definitely think that Snow has the first half right while Mitchell the second half. I still have a hard time understanding some of the elegies (3, 5, 6, 10), but the ones I think I understand really ring true and strike the right chord, so to speak, in delineating the transience of human desire. My absolute favorites are the First, Second, and Ninth Elegy. It just can't get better than that.
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May 06, 2009

matt rated it:

(review of isbn 1931243077)

bookshelves: poetic-rapture

Read in June, 2009

I thought Stephen Mitchell's translation was the best that could ever possibly exist. I was, happily, totally wrong. I picked this up at a friend's house by chance and was completely absorbed.

The Chrichtons bring out a sort of conversational quality in the writing which I hadn't been aware even existed. Rilke's meditations are spectral, evanescent, secular and luminous. I didn't know there were other ways to appraoch the Elegies and now I see that there's a whole ...more

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Jun 01, 2008

Matthew rated it:

(review of isbn 0865475466)

bookshelves: poetry

Read in September, 2006

I read the first few elegies awhile back, but for some reason I never finished them. For another unbeknownst reason, I picked them up a few days ago and started again at page one. I remember, on my first reading, I was steamrolled by the power they had; my second time around, that feeling of steamrolling was sorely missed. Don't get me wrong: there are still some amazing, amazing lines in these poems, yet I don't recall that feeling of transcendence that I get when I realize I am reading somethi...more I read the first few elegies awhile back, but for some reason I never finished them. For another unbeknownst reason, I picked them up a few days ago and started again at page one. I remember, on my first reading, I was steamrolled by the power they had; my second time around, that feeling of steamrolling was sorely missed. Don't get me wrong: there are still some amazing, amazing lines in these poems, yet I don't recall that feeling of transcendence that I get when I realize I am reading something that is truly great, in a universal, infinite, out-of-time, eternal kind of way.

In a way, Duino Elegies is the capstone of Rilke's entire career; he himself thought of the elegies in that way. Indeed, the blurb broadcasts that the elegies have "come to define the Rilkean sensibility," and I suppose the blurb is right. The problem, of course, is that I felt while reading that certain things were needlessly dense or opaque, that if I had a better understanding of the Rilkean way of life things might make a bit more sense. I am reminded of Yeats's and his heinous mythology that he constructed in the latter part of his life and the way that his poetry opens up when you understand it. Of course, the difference is that one can read a poem of Yeats (cf. "The Second Coming") and think it makes perfect sense, not even realizing that there is this entire Yeatsian mythology that complements the poem and unlocks it. I suppose I am suggesting that Duino Elegies is probably not the place to start if you are new to Rilke (which I am) and I think that a better understanding of Rilke and his works may greatly enhance the enjoyment one derives from the elegies.

As a rule, I hesitate to read things in translation unless they are vital to my existence as a human being (or a student). I think far too much is lost in translation, especially when the translated work is something as heavily enmeshed in the words themselves as poetry. (By that, I mean a lot less is lost in the translation of, say, an intruction manual than in the translation of a poem.) I don't speak a jot of German, but this translation seemed pretty well done. I compared Snow's "First Elegy" to Stephen Mitchell's translation, and I vastly preferred the former. I do intend to dabble a bit in reading German, once I get a paycheck to buy a book, and hopefully I will be able to better judge the translators once I have that background.

Ultimately, there are some amazing passages -- there's one in the second elegy about the way that every time we feel a little part of us evaporates into the air that is just breath-taking (no pun intended) -- and some great ideas, but I think too much is lost in translation and in not knowing Rilke well enough to do justice to the work itself, which I think has the potential to be great. Of course, if I am correct in assuming the problem lies in translating and ignorance, the fault lies with me, not with Rilke.(less)

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Mar 22, 2009

Alison rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Read in January, 1996

I read these I think around the age of 23, when I had my first true existential crisis. I was reading anything and everything I could find that mentioned death, mortality, the pain of existence, etc. I moved from the world of art to the world of psychology, in a sense, and Rilke has always exemplified to me one who is at once artist, philosopher, psychologist, spiritualist. His work vibrates with both the ethereal beauty and searing pain of life. I should read this again.

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Mar 31, 2009

Stringbean rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Read in January, 2009

The question is what I have learned from this book, and my response is difficult to give. Rilke offers so much to us; it is kind of him. Everybody should read this, not out of courtesy for the genius but for self-benefit. The poems here are often overwhelming and will touch your mind in places you have never before been touched in. It is beautiful, intrusive, and works better than a mirror.

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Jan 29, 2010

Amanda rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Read in January, 2010

Not a penultimate favorite, but this kind of poetry definitely sucks you deep inside the marrow of the bones of its message. It's a very flowing format and the words wrap around you slowly like ribbons to take into every sensation of it.

I almost devoured the whole thing in one sitting.

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Jan 19, 2008

Jesse rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

These poems blew my mind, kicked my ass and sent chills down my back. Never have poems so resonated with that dark secret place I keep hidden from view. But these poems threw back the curtain and shined with angelic vengeance upon my internal cowardice. And this, really, is what I want poems to do: let me know I am not alone and that others have felt as despondant and helpless (in a very mental and spiritual way) as I have. I almost didn't finish reading the poems because I felt my heart being s...more

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Feb 01, 2007

Xavier rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

bookshelves: poetry

I can't write it better than this editorial review. Read on.

"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 d...more

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Aug 11, 2008

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0865476071)

Read in August, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 04, 2009

Mnanderson01 rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Read in January, 2009

Hmm. I disagree with Rilke on pretty much everything from a philosophical point of view, and yet I cannot deny his poetic power. I cannot love him, but I can appreciate him, condescending as that sounds... He provides a fruitful provocation.

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Jun 12, 2007

Milly rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Rilke himself wrote that he didn't know what these meant. I very much enjoy poetry--am addicted to the rhythm and sound and feeling of words, often to my detriment as a fiction reader--but I thought this was horrendous. Perhaps I would have enjoyed them more in the original.... In English, at least, the words and rhythms were wrong, and the ideas didn't resonate (perhaps because the poet wasn't sure what the ideas were). When I finished reading I was left only with a sense of pretentious emptine...more

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Aug 08, 2009

Eduardo rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

Haunting, brilliant and apocalyptic they look to the future Quartets of TS Eliot, the angelic voice screaming in the wind, Rilke is masterful in the emotion & vision presented in these. Worth reading & re-reading. Wish I could read them in German!

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Jul 15, 2009

Kristopher rated it:

(review of isbn 0865476071)

A monumental work or poetry, yet one certainly has to be in the mood to wade through the length and depth of this epic poem.

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Dec 21, 2008

Joshua rated it:

(review of isbn 0865476071)

Read in January, 2003

rilke and snow. what a combination. if i could give 10 stars to this slender volume, i would, without hesitation.

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Nov 27, 2008

Ruaidhri rated it:

(review of isbn 0393328848)

bookshelves: les-meilleur, meops

recommended to Ruaidhri by: a guy in ithaca, new york. hadn't met him before, haven't seen h
recommends it for: anyone who lives for art, or arts to live

Sometimes things can scare the life out of us.

And that life rises out of us, sees beyond and into us.

Beauty is frightening, and fear is beautiful.

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