Description
Book SynopsisIn fifty-five sonnets, Rilke plays an astonishing set of philosophical and sensual variations on the Orpheus myth. 'Praising, that's it!' he declares; nature, art, love, time, childhood, technology, poverty, justice - all are encompassed in poems that spark with insight and invention, amongst the joyful and light-footed that Rilke ever wrote. 'All poetry resists translation, and one poem may have many different versions in another language; what I look for first is clarity, and this version supplies that generously. With the presence of the German text and Crucefix's helpful notes, the English-speaking reader with little or no German will find in this version a welcoming entrance to the path which leads eventually to a full understanding - if a full understanding of this mysterious poetry is ever possible. This translation will have, and keep, a place on my shelves where all the poetry lives.' PHILIP PULLMAN
Trade Review'This translation will have, and keep, a place on my bookshelves where all the poetry lives.' PHILIP PULLMAN The Sonnets to Orpheus are some of the greatest philosophical poems of the century. Martyn Crucefix's impressive previous translations of the Duino Elegies have accustomed us to a way of hearing Rilke, but these are, if anything, more beautiful and natural versions, the form falling lightly on the ear, the thought tantalisingly clear in these bold explorations at the edge of sensibility. GEORGE SZIRTES
