Rainer Maria Rilke Biography

He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. His two most famous verse sequences are the" Sonnets to Orpheus" and the "Duino Elegies"; his two most famous prose works are the "Letters to a Young Poet" and the semi-autobiographical "The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge".

Rilke was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, travelled extensively throughout Europe, including Russia, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, and in his later years settled in Switzerland—settings that were key to the genesis and inspiration for many of his poems.

He also wrote more than 400 poems in French, dedicated to his homeland of choice, the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

Selected Bibliography:

Poetry:

• Das Buch der Bilder (The Book of Images) (1902)
• Das Stunden Buch (Book of Hours) (1905)
• Neue Gedichte (New Poems) (1907)
• Requiem (1909)
• Das Marienleben (The Life of the Virgin Mary) (1913)
• Die Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus) (1923)
• Duineser Elegen (Duino Elegies) (1923)
• Späte Gedichte (Later Poems) (1934)
• Poemes Francais (French Poems) (1935)
• Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties (1975)
• Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (1981)
• New Poems (1984)
• Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems (1985)
• The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (1996)

Prose:

• Das Buch vom lieben Gott und anderes (Stories of God) (1900)
• Auguste Rodin (1903)
• Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornet Christopher Rilke (1906)
• Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge (The Notebooks of Malte Lourids Brigge) (1910)
• Selected Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke (1960)
• Letters on Cezanne (1985)
• Rilke and Benvenuta: An Intimate Correspondence (1987)
• Letters to a Young Poet (1993)
• Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke (1995)