A short life of the author
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke on 4 December 1875 in Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary. He led a peripatetic life, living in Munich, Paris, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and various castles provided by aristocratic patrons.
Life and Career
Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge (The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, 1910) — a novel about a young Danish poet in Paris, composed as a series of impressions, memories, and reflections — is his prose masterpiece and one of the earliest modernist novels.
Neue Gedichte (New Poems, 1907–1908) — including “The Panther,” “Archaic Torso of Apollo,” and other Dinggedichte (thing-poems) — established his mature poetic style: precise observation raised to metaphysical intensity.
The Duineser Elegien (Duino Elegies, 1923) — ten elegies written over a period of ten years, beginning in 1912 at Duino Castle — and Die Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus, 1923) — written in a single burst of inspiration in February 1922 — are his greatest works: dense, visionary meditations on mortality, transformation, and the task of praising existence.
Major Works and Themes
Rilke wrote about solitude, death, angels, love, and the difficulty and necessity of transformation. His influence on modern poetry — in German, English, and many other languages — is immeasurable.
Key Works
- Duino Elegies (1923)
- Letters to a Young Poet (1929)
Collecting Rilke
German first editions (Insel Verlag) are the primary collected form. Duineser Elegien (1923) in original wrappers brings $500–$2,000. English translations (Norton, Modern Library) bring $15–$40. Rilke died in 1926.