The Essential Rilke

Book excerpt: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Galway Kinnell and co-translator Hannah Liebmann comes The Essential Rilke, with newly translated selections of the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and an informative introduction. This collection also features all of the poems in their original German on facing pages. German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) enjoys ever-increasing popularity. His Duino Elegies is generally considered one of the greatest long poems of the twentieth century. The Essential Rilke includes all the celebrated Duino Elegies as well as a number of shorter poems--the favorites and the less familiar. Throughout his poetry, Rilke addresses questions of how to live and relate to the world in a voice that is simultaneously prophetic and intensely personal. Kinnell and Liebmann's translations put accuracy first and yet retain the power and grace of poetry. The Essential Rilke adds a valuable bilingual edition to Ecco's popular The Essential Poets series and these translations offer new insight into this complex German poet whose work is read and admired throughout the world.