The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: Bilingual Edition (English and German Edition) Paperback – Unabridged, March 13, 1989

"Oh gather it, Angel, that small-flowered herb of healing,Create a vase and preserve it. Set it among the joysnot yet open to us; on that lovely urnpraise 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 EnglishThe 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.

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.

Great translation of one of the finest poets of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Outside of Germany and Europe, the great symbolist poet, who worked with Rodin while in Paris, is not read nearly enough in my view considering his immense talent and influence on later poets. The translator, like all who undertake the thankless task, takes chances but is rewarded by managing to bring Rilke's vivid images to light along with his subtle philosophical and often almost mystical spirit. No doubt one should always read a poet in the original language to capture nuances of sound and language, but if you do not read German (and the book offers the German original if you are curious), this is as a very successful translation of one of the great symbolist poets I have read, and includes most of his major poems, poetic prose, and the famous notebooks. If you have not read Rilke, and love poetry, you are in for a treat. I am on my second copy as it has been read so much. Perhaps time for the Kindle version, though poetry should be touched, I believe.

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.

We were first introduce to this volume by the director of "Wings of Desire".It's hard to search and find new poetry which speaks to you in the amazon collection. In a bookstore one can browse the various collections and see which is appealing. But there the choices are limited. On the other hand on amazon the choices are infinite.We cannot speak to the translation of this volume. But what we can add to all of these reviews is this: deep dark poetry which speaks to a sad transfixed existence. A squeezing oxygenless entropic genre. Isolated souls arguing and colliding in looped baneworlds. Weldshmertz at it's multidimensional best. Enigmatic poems of deep sadness.If that's what you want out of poetry, then this collection shall be satisfying.Update 9/15/2012: reading poetry daily one reads alot of poetry. Other poets not withstanding Rilke IS poetry. Of the four Rilke poetry collection in my possession this collection would prove to be the best. Best in it's scope of his output, and best in translation.