Opinion of Rainer Maria Rilke

[anvi]

I translated about twenty of Rilke's poems back in the mid-nineties, largely to test my translation skills, but his German verse is really breathtaking.  I thought Robert Hass put it well when he said that Rilke's language is so seductive that it's often difficult to read him thoughtfully or analytically.  A monumentally great poet, to be sure.  Sometimes he could be a bit morbid, but with the Duino Elegies, he mostly broke free from that.