Reviews

Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke

rissaleighs's review against another edition

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4.0

The only trouble with this collection is that it is much too short. "The Panther" is still just as striking to me as it was a dozen or more years ago.

oriana_n's review against another edition

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3.0

IN APRIL

Again the woods are odorous, the lark
Lifts on upsoaring wings the heaven gray
That hung above the tree-tops, veiled and dark,
Where branches bare disclosed the empty day.
After long rainy afternoons an hour
Comes with its shafts of golden light and flings
Them at the windows in a radiant shower,
And rain drops beat the panes like timorous wings.
Then all is still. The stones are crooned to sleep
By the soft sound of rain that slowly dies;
And cradled in the branches, hidden deep
In each bright bud, a slumbering silence lies.

the_bee_writes's review against another edition

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2.0

If you are interested in the artistic development of Rainer Maria Rilke then this book gives you a competent guide. The author explains a lot in prose but unfortunately there are not a lot of examples of the poets poems which is a shame.

I am not sure about the quality of the translations: As being German speaking I have been reading Rilke in German for many years. In German his words have a certain melody which I can not find in the translations. But I have also been translating poems from German into English and some things just can not be said in the other language. It seems to me that translating poetry is a lot more difficult than translating prose.

If you want to know about the poet and his development this is a very good book to start with. The chosen poems give a good overview over his work and might give you a taste for more.

urlphantomhive's review against another edition

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3.0

I went to look up some of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems after reading his letters in the Little Black Classics series. While I usually not so great with poetry, the letters touched me dearly so I wanted to try his poetry as well.

And while nice, it didn't struck the same chords entirely as the letters. Maybe my expectations were too high - given how much I enjoyed reading the Little Black Classics, or maybe it was just the thing with me and poetry...

Find this and other reviews on my blog https://www.urlphantomhive.com

shksprsis's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

havebookswilltravel's review against another edition

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2.0

My rating has nothing to do with the poems of Rilke, which are beautiful, and everything to do with the crappy edition and introduction.

afterttherain's review against another edition

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4.0

oh this was so lovely :') been getting so much Rilke love and recommendation lately. But I think I will appreciate this better once I've read some more of his works so might come back to this one day!

avoiding_the_stress's review against another edition

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5.0

Gorgeous imagery. I ended up highlighting pretty much half the book. Also I didn't even realize this was translated until now--the translation was that well done.

meegan's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

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