Selected Poems (1550522)

Hailed as the greatest modern lyrical poet of Germany, Rainer Maria Rilke`s genius lies in his passion for perfection, artistic integrity and`willingness to remain a perpetual beginner`. The verse contained in this selection ranges from the objective, naturalistic descriptions of his earliest works to the increasingly effusive outpourings of half-religious ecstasy and anguish that characterize his later poems and culminates in the overwhelmingly personal vision of the famous `Duino Elegies`and `The Sonnets to Orpheus`, in which his most intense experiences of living and being find their noblest expression.