Rainer Maria Rilke

poet

He ranks among the most influential poets of modernism.

💡 Did you know? Rilke also wrote in French and worked for a time for the sculptor Rodin.

Duino Elegies

He began them in 1912 at Duino Castle and completed them only ten years later.

💡 Did you know? „Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels’ hierarchies?“ is their famous opening.

Letters to a Young Poet

Ten letters to an aspiring author: still a classic on the art of living.

💡 Did you know? Rilke’s advice to „go into yourself“ is still fondly quoted.

The Panther

The gaze of the animal caged in the Paris zoo becomes an emblem of captivity.

💡 Did you know? It is regarded as the most famous of his „thing-poems“.

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

In loosely joined notes the narrator circles around fear, childhood and death.

💡 Did you know? The novel is seen as an early peak of literary modernism.

Sonnets to Orpheus

In just a few weeks in 1922, 55 sonnets emerged: a veritable poetic eruption.

💡 Did you know? At the same time Rilke completed the long-stalled „Duino Elegies“.

Prague

Like Kafka, the German-writing Rilke belongs to the Prague literature of his time.

💡 Did you know? For a time Rilke worked in Paris as secretary to the sculptor Auguste Rodin.

the rose

His epitaph begins „Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight of being no one’s sleep …“.

💡 Did you know? Rilke died of leukaemia in 1926: legend links it to the prick of a rose thorn.

Rainer Maria Rilke