His style is a hypnotic one, and in some respects antipathetic to our own age (it can seem sickly and specious in its claims, those of his commentators sycophantic and excessive), yet the style should not be allowed to obscure the enormous power, and strange beauty of the Elegies. His tendency to hyperbole in his letters, and the continuous creation and cultivation of his image as the inspired poet, prove honey-tongued in a seductive, and compelling way. One must be wary of Rilke’s own comments (and those of others) about his poetry. Lament and joy for Rilke are two sides of the same coin of being, and his main concern is to reveal them in his poetry as aspects of the single whole, the double-realm. His Sonnets to Orpheus were completed contemporaneously, as a complementary work, a song of praise, enhancing the song of lament of the Elegies, which nevertheless despite their lamentation represent reconciliation with life, and seek to bear witness to its underlying fountain of joy, the source and spring from which the stream of acceptance and creativity flows that allows us to endure our transient and often painful existence. Rilke began his Duino Elegies at Schloss Duino near Trieste (on a rocky Adriatic headland, north-west of the city) where he stayed as a guest in the winter of 1911/12, and completed them in early February 1922 at the Chateau de Muzot ( pronounced Muzotte) near Sierre in Switzerland (south of Berne, and east of Montreux). Conditions and Exceptions apply.Īn Elegy is a song of lamentation, often written in an elegiac metre, especially a lament for the dead, though the term is often vaguely used of other poetry.
This work may be freely reproduced, stored and transmitted, electronically or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose. Published as ‘ The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke’, ISBN-10: 1512129461, May 2015. Made available in the United Kingdom, 2009, via the Poetry in Translation website. This commentary, the Duino Elegies, and others of Rilke's poems are all available to browse or download. ‘Eternal Spring’ - Auguste Rodin (French, 1840 - 1917), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art A Line-by-Line Commentary on Rilke’s Duino Elegies
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