Poems to Night

Poems to Night - Paperback

$17.95
$17.95
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Poems to Night
  • Poems to Night
Poems to Night - Paperback

Poems to Night - Paperback

by Rainer Maria Rilke
$17.95
$17.95

Book Overview

This collection of haunting, mystical poems of the night by the great Rainer Maria Rilke is the only English translation to bring them all together

In 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke presented his friend Rudolf Kassner with a notebook, containing 22 poems meticulously inscribed in his own hand and bearing the title Poems to Night. This evocative sequence of poems, which echoes some of the great themes of German romanticism, is now thought to represent one of the key stages in the creative breakthrough and spiritual evolution of the preeminent European poet of the twentieth century.

This translation was the 1st to bring all the poems together in English and is enhanced by the translator's valuable introduction and a rich selection of further poems Rilke dedicated to night at various stages of his life, providing fascinating insight into Rilke's development.

The poems recall all of the great poet's important themes: death and longing, the troubling reconciliation of beauty and suffering, and a search for transcendance. These deep questions circle the imagery of night in Rilke's intensely lyrical style: darkness, the stars and the moon wheel through the verses, and the play of light and dark beomes an evocation of life's duality. No other poet was as singularly devoted to beauty or as capable of gifting its consolations to the reader--a volume to cherish on stormy nights and peaceful ones.
ISBN9781805333135
Author Rainer Maria Rilke
PublisherPushkin Press Classics
GenreLiterature
FormatPaperback
PublishedFebruary 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages96
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Literary Collections Nonfiction Poetry

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About Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was one of the greatest lyric German-language poets. Born in Prague, he published his first book of poems, Leben und Lieber, at age 19. In 1897 he met Lou Andreas-Salomé, the talented and spirited daughter of a Russian army officer, who influenced him deeply. In 1902 he became a friend, and for a time the secretary, of Rodin, and it was during his 12-year Paris residence that Rilke enjoyed his greatest poetic activity. In 1919 he went to Switzerland where he spent the last years of his life. It was there that he wrote his last two works, Duino Elegies (1923) and Sonnets to Orpheus (1923).

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