Rilke’s Book of Hours
Love Poems to God
by Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
with a new Introduction by the translators
Riverhead Books (Penguin), 2005. 257 pages.
Starred Review
Although this book was published in 2005, our library recently purchased new copies of it, so I saw it on the Wowbrary list and checked it out. I liked it so much, I purchased my own copy and slowly went through it at the rate of a poem per day.
Anyone who has seen my Sonderling Sunday posts know that I love the German language and I love looking at the ways the German and English languages try to express the same thoughts. So this book, with the original German text on one side and the English translation on the other, is perfect for me.
This is poetry, so you’re not going to find a literal translation. I think I liked it better for that. Again, how best to express an idea, in this case a poetic idea, in each language?
I’d read a poem each day. First I’d read it in German and try to get the idea. Then I’d read it line by line with the translation and find out where I’d gone wrong.
The poetry is beautiful in both languages. Don’t let the subtitle throw you. Rilke has some nontraditional thoughts about God. But they do get you thinking and meditating about some deep thoughts.
This is the 100th Anniversary Edition, and there’s a reason these poems have lasted so long.
Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/book_of_hours.html
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