The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: Bilingual Edition (English and German Edition)

One of the best poets to ever live, this is a quintessential selection with translations of high quality (judging from my meager German knowledge). Magnificent!

Stephen Mitchell is a highly-regarded translator. I appreciate this work--his translations are very poetic, sometimes taking a bit of liberty away from the word-for-word translation. (I studied Translation at university; one of the first aspects we encountered is that there are a number of theories of translation; if you love foreign literature, you've surely encountered a number of these, esp. in poetry.) I taught this book and the students were quite excited by the poetry (if you read German, it is en face), for many their first adventure in translated literature. I also bought Edward Snow's translation of "New Poems" and "New Poems, the Other Part" for comparison with Mitchell--this is interesting, even if you don't read German, because you can decipher some of the German to see how these 2 differ in the application of their theories. Rilke is challenging yet beautiful. Many of my favourite poems are Rilke's. "Archaic Torso of Apollo" is a message for all of us who think about our lives, about who we are and could be. Many of the poems will lead you to contemplation, far beyond the superficial "self-help" industry.

"Oh gather it, Angel, that small-flowered herb of healing, Create a vase and preserve it. Set it among the joys not yet open to us; on that lovely urn praise it with the ornately flowing inscription: "Subrisio Saltat." Rainier Maria Rilke surely was touched by an angel, and through his magnificent poems, so are we. Stephen Mitchell seems to have been touched also by these great spirits when he translated and interpreted almost 300 pages of Rilke's poems and other writings. This generous-hearted book includes selections from Rilke's major works: The Book of Hours; The Book of Pictures; New Poems; Requiem; Uncollected Poems (1913-1918); The Duimo Elegies; The Sonnets to Orpheus; Uncollected Poems (1923-1926);and The Notebooks of Malte Lauris Brigge (prose). Gloriously, all of the Elegies are given. ("Oh gather it, Angel" is from the Fifth Elegy, dedicated to Frau Hertha Koenig.) One can hardly read these, particularly the selections from the "Sonnets to Orpheus," suffused with Rilke's feelings associated with the too-early death of a young girl, without trembling. This book offers riches upon riches: --A wise, informative introductory essay, "Looking for Rilke," by Robert Hass --The poems themselves, in German and English on facing pages --45 pages of notes with many translations of Rilke's letters about the poems --a title & first line index in German and another title & first line index in English The poetry is of profound beauty in both languages. Some believe Rilke may have been the greatest of poets writing in German. Reading the poems aloud in German can help convey one aspect---the play of sound on/in the ear---even if we're not fluent in Rilke's first language. (Later, he wrote in French.) However, Mitchell's wonderful poems in English capture Rilke's voice, the complexity and humanity of his thoughts, and his amazing images. Mitchell gives us the cadence, the style (including Rilke's own changes over the years), and the darkness, angers, longings, questionings, depths & heights of Rilke's feelings. Reader alert: Could other translations be made? Sure, but perhaps not as true to the beauty and power of Rilke, so splendid is Mitchell's achievement. Yet this is a 1982 book, reprinted in 1989 by Vintage International. There are later translations and what some future poet/translator may achieve, who can say? In some places---a very few, in my opinion---perhaps the English word-net has not quite caught the nuances of Rilke's thought. Other reviewers might see more instances, still others none. A reminder too that these are selections from Rilke: parts, not the whole of his work. Some readers may find their favorites missing. For me, Stephen Mitchell's "The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke" is a treasure almost beyond measure----and at used book prices, an outstanding value. Most highly recommended.

The copy is awesome! I'm very excited to properly read it. Wonderful translation and wonderful print.

I do not understand why people write idiotic book reviews. Have they never read a book before? I was looking for this particular edition because I lost my previous one. It is a bilingual edition which was what I wanted because I write and speak German but I wanted this particular edition by Stephen Mitchell because it is formatted with Rilke's poetry on the left and the English translation on the right and sometimes I like to reference the English translation. One reviewer complained about Mitchell's translation. As a linguist, I have to point out there is no possible way for a translator to translate poetry beautifully and accurately. One cannot capture the nuances, alliteration, cadence, rhythm, rhyme scheme, exact meaning of words, etc. It is just a reference only. I would say this is a nice presentation of one of the greatest metaphysical poets. Anyone who likes Rilke will find this a lovely book and well worth the money.

Beautiful copy! The provider was very nice as to also draw a cute picture thanking me on the receipt. However, the binding seems to be faulty and many of the pages have fallen out. I don't really mind, as the words remain, and are all that really matter in this case.

This book contains a lot of Rilke's poetry and notes. If you already love Rilke's works then this is almost like an encyclopedia of his life and work in my opinion. For someone not familiar with Rilke, or someone who doesn't want to delve too deeply into his work, then this book might be a bit too much. But for people like me, just having this book in my personal library, I know it will be there when I need it. I love to read, but due to some health issues it's hard for me to read much. But little by little I'm reading more, so having great books that lift my spirit and connect me to my humanity makes reading very nice indeed. And lastly, (I almost forgot) Stephen Mitchell is extraordinary at translating and understanding the poetry. I can't say enough about how wonderful his work is.

Great poems from a great poet!

Stephen Mitchell and Rikle are a match made in heaven. Mitchell's English renditions of the Austrian poet's masterpieces, in the German language, are simply top class and read more like original poems than translations.

Rilke wrote in German obviously. The original words are there and adjacently printed is the English translation. Perfect. This is how it ought to be if one has the misfortune of not understanding the language the work was originally written in. Have been very fond of Rilke for a long time and Stephen Mitchell's masterful translation does his poetry justice. One must own art of this magnitude for it is not enough to listen to it or read it online.

This version is extremely low quality. I have some print on demand titles and the text is at least readable. The text in this book is often blurry, smudged, very dark ink, then some very light ink, like a very bad photocopy. Make sure to check the version you are ordering. Do not purchase the print on demand version. Stick with Kindle or a decent copy of the original version.

what can one say, I like Rilke.

Was recommended this author, hadn’t come across him or his writings. A delightful read with German translation. Made for a welcome surprise. His writings are divine