Synopses & Reviews
Rilke is one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century. In his poetry, Rilke addresses the problems of death, God, and "destructive time," and attempts to overcome and transform these problems into an indestructive inner world.
Review
"I have always found the Elegies hard to compare or even read with our own best poems.... Because of Mr. Poulin's translation, I experience the Elegies almost as English. He gives Rilke the crisp speed of English, and yet seems to remain very close to the original meaning." -- Robert Lowell
Synopsis
Long considered the definitive English translation of Rilkes brilliant and haunting masterworks, A. Poulins edition of Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus provides an essential introduction to some of the most passionate and intensely creative visionary poetry of the twentieth century. With a new foreword by the esteemed poet Mark Doty and a fresh new design, Poulins revered translation is certain to acquaint a new generation of readers with the works of Rilke.
About the Author
'Rainer Maria Rilke (18751926) is one of the most widely read poets of the twentieth century.A. Poulin, Jr., editor of the first six editions of Contemporary American Poetry and a contributing editor of American Poetry Review, died in June, 1996. Michael Waters (Ph.D., Ohio University) teaches at Salisbury State University in Maryland. He is Poulin\'s literary executor and, as the preface to the sixth edition of Contemporary American Poetry acknowledges, advised Mr. Poulin on the last five editions. Dr. Waters is himself a published poet with seven book-length collections to his credit as well as appearances in nine Reviews including Yale, Antioch, and North American. He is the recipient of many honors and awards including two Pushcart Prizes, one fellowship each from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Ireland), six fellowships from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and three Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council. He has given readings at more than fifty universities--among them the University of Athens in Thessaloniki and the Folger Shakespeare Library.'