About the Author

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), the author of Sonnets to Orpheus, Duino Elegies and Letters to a Young Poet, was one of the greatest poets of the German language. Babette Deutsch (1859–1982) was a poet, critic, and novelist, as well as a translator.

Reviews

If Rilke cut himself shaving, he would bleed poetry.--Stephen Spender "The New York Review of Books"

Rilke remade the sturdy sonnet, recast the sonorous song. He quickened the German language itself.--Rika Lesser "The Nation"

Poets in English continue to line up for the inevitable failure of translating Rilke's short lyrics. The best translations I have seen are from Babette Deutsch.--Clive James