New poems

There have been many distinguished translators of Rilke; so many, in fact, that there is even an excellent book by novelist and critic William Gass: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation (1999). Cadora guitarist, writer, and translator, whose collection The Millennial Fictions (2009) won the Eisner Prize for Prose is the latest. In his introduction, Cadora states, I am convinced that, without the rhyme schemes, Rilke would not be Rilke, and I have endeavored to keep them exact where I could. This decision shapes the book. Many of the poems are sonnets, and while Rilke's immense creativity within formal constraints is apparent, English is not as rhyme rich and some of Cadora's versions sound like tongue twisters. His 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. Cadora's willingness to translate more than four hundred poems is admirable, since many themes recur and develop. This is an uneven but worthwhile volume.--Autrey, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

Bohemian-Austrian poet Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (1875-1926)-widely known as Rainer Maria Rilke (The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge; Book of Hours)-is positioned next to German poets Goethe and Friedrich Holderlin and is a rarefied talent in 20th-century poetry. Offering unconventional rhyme schemes and frequent enjambments, Rilke's poems are expressions of deeply felt experience, intense and lyrical: they're more intellectual than emotional-"How I have felt what farewell expresses./ How I still know-a dark, unwounded thing,/ a cruelty where a beautiful coupling/ is once more shown, held back, torn to pieces." From the exemplary "Interior of a Rose," the poet's lines build-"They can barely even contain/ themselves; among them many/ let themselves overflow any/ interior space, and they rain/ into days, closing continually,/ fuller and fuller they gleam,/ until all of summer seems to be/ a room, a room in a dream." Originally published in 1907 and 1908 in two volumes, the 200 poems contained in this bilingual single volume represent a period of intense creativity in the poet's career. Translator Cadora (The Millennial Fictions) renders a beautiful new edition complete with commentary on each poem at the end, based on Rilke's letters, numerous biographies, and related works as well as an introduction outlining his approach to the translation. VERDICT Essential for all poetry collections.-Annalisa Pesek, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.