The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

Parallel German text and English translation.The influence and popularity of Rilkes poetry in America have never been greater than they are today more than fifty years after his death. Rilke is unquestionably the most significant and compelling poet of romantic transformation of spiritual quest that the twentieth century has known. His poems of ecstatic identification with the world exert a seemingly endless fascination for contemporary readers.In Stephen Mitchells versions many readers feel that they have discovered an English rendering that captures the lyric intensity fluency and reach of Rilkes poetry more accurately and convincingly than has ever been done before.Mr. Mitchell is impeccable in his adherence to Rilkes text to his formal music and to the complexity of his thought; at the same time his work has authority and power as poetry in its own right. Few translators of any poet have arrived at the delicate balance of fidelity and originality that Mr. Mitchell has brought off with seeming effortlessness.Originally published: New York : Random House 1982.