WOW. God Rilke is my favorite poet forever. My copy is a less popular translation by Edward Snow so at some point I’ll have to read the popular translation but still… WOW.

Apparently Rilke wrote this in a castle in the Swiss alps lent him by a princess, alone for months except for I assume the staff feeding him, what a writer would do for such conditions

Rilke is all of this rolled into one:

So beautiful.

This is one of the best poetry books I have ever read. I simply picked it up because I own a copy of Rilke's letters and I wanted to familiarize myself with his work before reading them. I had no idea I would enjoy it this much. This is more than just poetry; it is a compelling philosophical text. I found it so touching, not only due to the subject matter, but mostly due to the fact that Rilke's writing is so tender and intrusive in the best way possible. I am genuinely frustrated writing this because there's a beauty to this I just cannot translate into words. I am sure that I will keep returning to these poems for many years to come.

Thanks, Robert. You'll get it back one day, someday.

"toda sensación es dispersión"

leer a rilke ha sido como un abrazo de los que sanan

I find the story of how Rilke came to write these elegies far more captivating than the volume itself. Maybe I'm just not enamoured with modernist poetry of late. I can certainly appreciate the poetic qualities of this work, but I'm not particularly moved by it.