Synopsis
The German poet Rainer Maria Rilke began work on these poems in 1900 with three short pieces, while he was engaged in The Book of Hours, but it wasn't completed until 1911. The impulse for it may have come from his memory of Russian icons depicting the Mother of God. This slight work has the framework of a biblical narrative and charts the unfolding of the divine drama, culminating in Mary's assumption into heaven. A feeling of reverence pervades the sequence of thirteen poems. Although he did not hold any orthodox beliefs, as a poet he was of the firm conviction that his work was dictated from "above." One can read in the wonder and mystery conveyed in the poems Rilke's belief in the presence of a transpersonal wisdom to which every man has access, and which mediates between the ego and the Higher Self. Christine McNeill is a poet--Kissing the Night--and translator, and works as a tutor of German. The Waxwing Series.
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