Rainer Maria Rilke
Paperback | Pages: 224 pages Rating: 4.49 | 1917 Users | 120 Reviews
Present Books Conducive To Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus
| Original Title: | Duineser Elegien. Die Sonette an Orpheus |
| ISBN: | 0618565892 (ISBN13: 9780618565894) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Narrative As Books Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus
Who's turned us around like this,
so that whatever we do, we always have
the look of someone going away? Just as a man
on the last hill showing him his whole valley
one last time, turns, and stops, and lingers -
so we live, and are forever leaving. (70)
When was the last time you look at the stars? Feeling the bittersweet breeze of the night in your face. A face only illuminated by the distant light of the stars. Alone with your thoughts, feeling you can do anything. Go anywhere.
This book is an invitation to look above and ponder about your own existence. About what makes you feel happiness, what troubles the mind, what confuses the heart. What you need. Time is merciless and will not stand still.
Will you look at the stars tonight?
This book includes Rilke's most celebrated works: Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus. The latter are masterfully written, faithfully portraying what a creative mind is capable of. They are also the most accessible part of the book. Written with a superb language, they are made of metaphors that express many emotions and reflections that define human beings. So I would recommend people to start with these sonnets first, and then tackle the elegies, a challenge in verse.
Like I said, this book starts with ten elegies. They contain an intense amount of mysticism. I wouldn't have like them if it wasn't for the fact that they are not like Sunday psalms but heartfelt manifestations of existential doubts and human suffering. So religion is also seen from a philosophical point of view. I think. That is what I understood, at least. Angels are a recurrent theme and they are used to express different thoughts, especially the contrast between their perfection and human flaws.
And if I cried, who'd listen to me in those angelic
orders? Even if one of them suddenly held me
to his heart, I'd vanish in his overwhelming
presence. Because beauty's nothing
but the start of terror we can hardly bear,
and we adore it because of the serene scorn
it could kill us with. Every angel's terrifying. (16)
Angels depict the distant and unbearable beauty that humans apparently will never reach on Earth. According to one of the notes in the book (I am extremely grateful for them, but they weren't enough), these angels have nothing to do with the angels of the Christian heaven. "The angel of the Elegies is that creature in whom the transformation of the visible into the invisible, which we are accomplishing, appears already consummated ... " (205)
There are also many images that portrays the fervent yearning for love in all its forms, but with more emphasis on the transcendental side of it, something that should define humanity. A spiritual experience that would elevate us all to where angels dwell without leaving life on Earth.
Hostility
is second nature to us. Having promised
one another distance, hunting, and home,
don't lovers always cross each other's boundaries? (38)
There is too much longing in his writing.
O hours of childhood,
when more than the mere past was behind
each shape and the future wasn't stretched out
before us. We were growing; sometimes we hurried
to grow up too soon, half for the sake of those
who had nothing more than being grown-up.
Yet when we were alone, we still amused
ourselves with the everlasting and stood there
in that gap between world and toy,
in a place which, from the very start,
had been established for a pure event. (42)
But there is also hope. And a strong desire to achieve something greater. And so much more.
Due to Rilke's symbolism, this book doesn't represent an easy read, at all. His exquisite lyricism and the images he described left me in awe. Mostly because while reading Rilke, I wasn't reading anyone else. I am certainly not an expert but I found his poetical melody quite unique. I must say, I haven't read something so beautifully strange since my encounter with Rimbaud.
It is a cruel norm established by one merciless being: tormented souls are the ones that can bring beauty to everything they touch. While purging themselves, they convert their sorrow into beautiful images that delight every reader willing to be taken for an intrepid journey without knowing the destination. Perhaps, it is a cruel norm. Or a blessing in disguise. A blessing that transforms a man into an artist, something that lets him live without drowning in a loud sea of despair.
...we vanish in our feelings. (24)
After reading Rilke's poetry, I experienced an overwhelming sense of smallness. The last two elegies are brilliantly written. And yet, I think there is still so much mystery surrounding these verses. Mystery I hope I can unveil the next time I read this book.
June 1, 14
* Also on my blog.
Notes:
-This is a bilingual edition, so those who speak German will be able to appreciate Rilke's magnificent poetry without the intervention of another person.
** Painting: The Guardian, Marina Petro / via druma.co
Be Specific About Based On Books Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus
| Title | : | Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus |
| Author | : | Rainer Maria Rilke |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 224 pages |
| Published | : | April 20th 2005 by Mariner Books (first published 1923) |
| Categories | : | Poetry. Classics. European Literature. German Literature. Fiction |
Rating Based On Books Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus
Ratings: 4.49 From 1917 Users | 120 ReviewsJudge Based On Books Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus
I dragged these Elegies with me for a long time, never really warming to them. As a collection they strike me as too disjointed. The centerpiece for me are the Eighth, Sixth and Seventh Elegies, in that particular order. The Eighth is a masterful poem in which Rilke articulates his worldview in a sober, almost didactic tone. We, human beings, are never able to get in touch with the Ding-an-sich, with what Rilke calls 'the Open'. From early on in life we wrap ourselves in inadequate intellectualThis is a beautiful book. I find it very surprising that this somewhat new (2009) book marks the first time these two works have been collected together, considering how strongly Rilke felt about them working in tandem. I find the story of the genesis of these poems almost as interesting as the poems themselves: Rilke's years of depression, his experience in WWI, the somewhat exotic location of their composition, all culminating in Rilke's "hurricane of the spirit" and the feverish completion of
I need mindfulness training from Rilke.
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.
Dad read this to me at bedtime see . I must admit...it did put me to sleep.
It seems wrong to mark this as "read", as I don't think I will ever be done with it. There is infinity here.
Lonelier now, dependent on one anotherutterly, though not knowing one another at all,*Does it really exist, Time, the Destroyer?[]Are we really as fate keeps trying to convince us,weak and brittle in an alien world? *Silent friend of many distances, []Let your presence ring out like a bellinto the night. *More than we experienced has gone by. *All is far - and nowhere does the circle close.
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