New Poems: The Other Part

Poems in the original German and English translation consider Greek statues, myths, death, grief, the past, families, the sea, and travel

Rilke's drive toward objectivity made great strides during the 12 years he spent in Paris, living apart from his family, working closely with Rodin. Poetry became a means to appropriate the world around him, and with Rodin's sculpture and Cezanne's paintings as touchstones, he sought to penetrate "the validity of all things." In one celebrated poem, the torso of Apollo imparts its message to the viewer: "You must change your life." Rilke attempted to transform himself by empathizing with a saint's agonies, old women in the streets, a bachelor's isolation, a snake-charmer's music, flamingos "lightly twisted on pink stems." The poet contemplates the Buddha, "center of all centers, core of cores." He recognizes that the dolphin, like humans, loves "the deep, silent stellar year." These are poems of great beauty and power, brilliantly translated in a fluid, convincing idiom. This bilingual edition complements Snow's award-winning translation of Rilke's New Poems 1907. (July
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rilke's New Poems and his Sonnets to Orpheus are the products of astonishing bursts of inspiration. With the New Poems (written during the summers of 1906 and 1908) Rilke sought to have his poetry-making approximate a craftsman's work with the intent of presenting experience as objectively as possible. Snow's superb translation of the New Poems: the other part (the companion to his 1984 translation of volume 1 of the New Poems ) offers a close reading of the original texts, making their semantic and syntactic density transparent. Rilke wrote the Sonnets to Orpheus during some two weeks in February 1922, the same month that he finished his Duino Elegies. Deeply rooted in the symbolist tradition, the Sonnets collapse the barriers that exist between the inner and the outer world and celebrate the inherently musical quality of language. In his masterful translation of the Sonnets , Young captures the fluidity of the original with sensitivity and precision. Translations are ultimately readings of the original, and these readings are welcome additions to the growing interest in Rilke by the English-speaking world. Recommended. Ulrike S. Rettig, German Dept., Wellesley Coll . , Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.