Rilke: New Poems

📖 The Scoop

"Essential for all poetry collections. . . . Translator Joseph Cadora renders a beautiful new edition complete with commentary on each poem, based on Rilke's letters, numerous biographies, and related works as well as an introduction outlining his approach to the translation." --Library Journal, starred review

"[The] renderings of the canonical poems, such as "The Panther," "Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes," and "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (to name a few), are worthwhile additions to the enormous body of Rilke's work already translated by others." --Booklist

Ranier Maria Rilke is one of the world's best-selling poets, and Rilke: New Poems contains many of his most iconic pieces. Translator Joseph Cadora has created the definitive English-language version through meticulous faithfulness to Rilke's German and insightful commentary on each of the 400-plus poems. Bilingual, with an introduction by Robert Hass.

The Panther

From endless passing of the bars his gaze
has wearied--there is no more it can hold.
There seem to be a thousand bars always,
and past those thousand bars there is no world.

The soft pad of his brawny, rippling pace
turns itself in a tightening circle till,
like a mighty dance around a tiny space,
it centers a numb but still enormous will.

But at times the shades of his pupils rise,
grasping an image he cannot resist;
through his tense, unmoving limbs it flies,
and within his heart it ceases to exist.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the world's most beloved poets.

Joseph Cadora is a guitarist, writer, and translator. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Genre: Literary Collections / European / German (fancy, right?)