The Book of Images: Poems / Revised Bilingual Edition

There is very little question that Rilke was the greatest German poet of the 20th century. The only question that remains is whether he was the greatest poet in any language. His brief, imaginative poems capture the essence of man in the modern period, alone, isolated, and without meaning. Edward Snow has captured the grace and subtle imagery of Rilke in this altogether outstanding collection of poems, in large part because he is a great poet in his own right. Readers of Rilke will surely be familiar with a number of poems in this bilingual collection, such as Autumn: "The leaves are falling, falling as if from far off, as if the heavens distant gardens withered; they fall with gestures that say "no." And in the nights the heavy earth falls From all the stars into aloneness. We are falluing. This hand is falling. And look at the others: it is in them all. And yet there is One who holds this falling With infinite softness in his hands." (85).

Rilke ranks among the world's greatest poets. Each poem in the Book of Images is an elegant snapshot of a beautiful world. Snow's translation is superb, and he is commonly regarded as the preeminent English translator of Rilke's poetry. This text contains the translation and the original German side-by-side so that readers can gain a better appreciation of Rilke. The Snow translatio of the Book of Images is one of the greatest English-language poetic achievements.

Rilke is that poet that you, if you are tormented by memories of high-school poetry lessons past (dactylic metre sound vaguely familiar?), ought try. His imagery is accessible, his meaning clear...and he manages simultaneously a beautiful degree of both spiritual and metaphorical richness. Snow's translations of Rilke's poetry are superb; he consistently preserves the metric structure and is also conscious of the need to employ every word and consider every nuance of meaning, rather than simply settling for glossing it (a surprisingly common problem in poetry translation). In the challenging world of finding faithful poetry translation, Snow's work is outstanding...and the original material to my sense of literary aesthetics unsurpassed...little of Rilke's beauty is sacrificed in the execution of this translation. Rilke's simultaneous spareness, sensitivity, and richness endure here; rather than imposing himself upon the reader, Snow succeeds admirably at the translator's task, and brings Rilke to the English-speaking audience.

Edward Snow has captured the essential grace of Rilke's poetry without sacrificing faithfulness to the original text. In this book of wonderful and exquisite poems, the lyric genius of Rilke comes through; Snow's own poetic sensibility is also clear. Some of my favorite Rilke poems (such as "Autumn" or "Memory") are rendered here in a way that perfectly suits their quiet, holy sense of both solitude and communion. Read it.

Rilke's Book of Images is a wonderful way to enter the world of poetry if you are hesitant because of bad memories of tough English courses in high school or college. Beautiful, powerful and accessible, you will love to sit down and get lost in the language and intensity of this work.