Three Elegies by Rilke

     Rainer Maria Rilke. Requiem (1909) Three of Rilke’s elegies, for Paula Modersohn-Becker, Wolf Graf von Kalckreuth, and an unnamed boy, the last in the boy’s own voice.
     I’ve always liked Rilke. He uses an almost purely Germanic lexicon, and the simplest German syntax to create dense lines of poetry. He avoids poetic diction, and turns the vernacular to his purposes. Few poets in any language can match his ear for the music of vowels, or for subtle variations in rhythm. Repetition enlarges the meanings of words, extends our grasp of his intent, focuses the imagination:

So hab ich mich dem Allen aufgedrängt.
Und war doch Alles ohne mich zufrieden
und wurde trauriger mit mir behängt.
Nun bin ich plötzlich ab-geschieden.

[So have I urged myself onto the All.
Though All had been content without me
and became sadder when with me adorned.
Now sudden have I disengaged me here.]

      So speaks the boy, after relating his discovery, his naming, of the world.
      Written in 1908, published 1909 by the Insel Verlag, which set itself the task of printing and reprinting the best available classic and contemporary literature. I’m glad I found this little book in my father’s library. ****