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arimanos's review against another edition
5.0
So beautiful.
This is one of the best poetry books I have ever read. I simply picked it up because I own a copy of Rilke's letters and I wanted to familiarize myself with his work before reading them. I had no idea I would enjoy it this much. This is more than just poetry; it is a compelling philosophical text. I found it so touching, not only due to the subject matter, but mostly due to the fact that Rilke's writing is so tender and intrusive in the best way possible. I am genuinely frustrated writing this because there's a beauty to this I just cannot translate into words. I am sure that I will keep returning to these poems for many years to come.
This is one of the best poetry books I have ever read. I simply picked it up because I own a copy of Rilke's letters and I wanted to familiarize myself with his work before reading them. I had no idea I would enjoy it this much. This is more than just poetry; it is a compelling philosophical text. I found it so touching, not only due to the subject matter, but mostly due to the fact that Rilke's writing is so tender and intrusive in the best way possible. I am genuinely frustrated writing this because there's a beauty to this I just cannot translate into words. I am sure that I will keep returning to these poems for many years to come.
judemoon's review against another edition
5.0
"toda sensación es dispersión"
leer a rilke ha sido como un abrazo de los que sanan
leer a rilke ha sido como un abrazo de los que sanan
bohdankinal's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Short but dense. Probably one of the more (if not most) challenging pieces of literature I’ve read in awhile. I didn’t understand a good deal of it, but the passages that I did were quite beautiful and passionate and melancholy. For some reason made me think of Wings of Desire, but don’t know if that was just because both are German works poetically depicting life/suffering in Romantic fashion or if there’s something deeper.
marcymurli's review against another edition
2.0
I find the story of how Rilke came to write these elegies far more captivating than the volume itself. Maybe I'm just not enamoured with modernist poetry of late. I can certainly appreciate the poetic qualities of this work, but I'm not particularly moved by it.
helgamharb's review against another edition
4.0
The story goes that while staying at the Duino Castle, one morning needing to gather his thoughts in order to write an answer to a business letter, Rilke goes out in the storm. All of a sudden he hears a voice in the strong wind, calling: "If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?"
He immediately writes those words down in his ever-present notebook and hence they become the first lines of Duino Elegies.
Let no one say that I don’t love life, the eternal
presence: I pulsate in her; she bears me, she gives me
the spaciousness of this day, the primeval workday
for me to make use of, and over my existence flings,
in her magnanimity, nights that have never been.
Her strong hand is above me, and if she should hold me under,
submerged in fate, I would have to learn how to breathe
down there.
He immediately writes those words down in his ever-present notebook and hence they become the first lines of Duino Elegies.
Let no one say that I don’t love life, the eternal
presence: I pulsate in her; she bears me, she gives me
the spaciousness of this day, the primeval workday
for me to make use of, and over my existence flings,
in her magnanimity, nights that have never been.
Her strong hand is above me, and if she should hold me under,
submerged in fate, I would have to learn how to breathe
down there.