Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria RilkeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: February 22, 2022 [In some markets it may be out already.]
This is a reissue of the original English translation of Rilke’s elegies composed on the karst cliffs of northeast Italy in the early 1920’s. The book consists of ten medium-length, angel-laden elegiac poems. [Yes, dude was just that into angels.] The translator’s notes are posted as an epilogue and the volume has a new preface. It should be noted that the translators suggest one think of it as one long elegy in ten parts.
I’m far from qualified to comment on the skill of translation from the perspective of how well it catches the meaning and nuance of the original poems. However, the Sackville-Wests’ words are evocative and impactful in their own right, and I enjoyed and was moved by this collection of poems. [In their notes, the translators say they decided it was most productive to try to artfully paraphrase rather than getting too caught up in strict literal translation.] I’d highly recommend this book for poetry readers.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 
Yeah, Rilke’s stuff is real nice. Understatement?
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Angelic Syllables of Rainer Maria Rilke
Rilke wrote about angels a lot.
A mere preacher, though, Rilke was not.
He had higher designs.
It is due to his lines
That my German I never forgot.
T.R.
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Well said.
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