Tweetspeak Poetry

Rilke’s ‘Prayers of a Young Poet’ (And a Giveaway)

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Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is best known today for a rather slim volume entitled Letters to a Young Poet. The letters were published only after his death, by the man who had received them, a young military officer-in-training in Austria named Franz Kappus who had discovered his heart was in poetry rather than the military. Rilke was moved enough, perhaps by the similarities in his own life, that he exchanged a series of letters over a period of time.

Published in 1929 in German, and in 1934 (and again in 1945) in English, Rilke’s letters gained serious popularity beginning in the 1980s. Today, they remain almost required reading for anyone considering poetry as a vocation (or avocation). But more people have probably read his letters than his own poetry. A number of good translations and collections are available, and his poetry is well worth reading.

Rilke prayers of a young poetAnd now Mark Burrows has translated a group of poems entitled Prayers of a Young Poet, an obvious play on the title of the collected letters. It’s a wonderfully engaging collection, published by Paraclete Press, and Burrows—a scholar of medieval Christianity and poetry editor for the journal Spiritus—adds new insight and understanding to both Rilke the man and his poetry.

In 1897, the young Rilke went on an extended visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg. He spent most of his time in the then-capital of Russia, but his short week in Moscow included the celebration of the Orthodox Easter. He and a friend, writes Burrows, went to the worship services of several churches, including the Kremlin’s Church of the Dormition, “considered the ‘mother church’ of Muscovite Russia.” And what impressed him in these churches and their liturgical celebrations, Burrows says, was an “extravagant ‘sense’ of this worship and the dimly lit interior grandeur of these churches, their darkness penetrated by the icon’s glowing radiance.”

The key words here are worship, darkness, and glowing radiance. The introduction by Burrows and his afterword on reading and translating Rilke together provide excellent background on the history and context of the poems.

Two years later, in a fairly short period of time, Rilke composed 67 poems inspired by the experience, poems so connected to each other that they are really one extended poem. The interior dating included in the poems roughly coincides with the time Rilke wrote them in 1899—from September 20 to October 14. The dating also serves as a connecting thread across the poems.

The poems themselves are written from the perspective of a young Orthodox monk in a monastery, and he is searching for God, and ultimately finding Him. The themes of darkness and radiance are recurring ones throughout the poems, echoing the interiors of those Moscow churches. Yet while the poems have an “other-worldly” focus, they are anchored in the monk’s day-to-day reality.  From poem number 8 in the series:

I’m living just as the century departs.
One feels the wind from a large leaf
that God and you and I had written on,
which turns above by hands no one knows.

One feels the radiance of a new page
on which everything could still come to be.

Tranquil powers measure its breadth,
Regarding each other with dark intent. 

As the monk returned home, a bright and flaming blush rose into the heavy grey of the western sky, convincing the clouds to take on a new and unusual violet hue. An evening unlike any that had ever been waited behind the trembling trees, and he discerned this at the century’s turning as a sign and bowed before it. 22nd of September, 1899.

The poems, or prayers, are profound in their simplicity. They tell a story of faith, doubt, questioning, acceptance, and reaching out to others, but most of all a story of searching for God.

This is such a fine collection that we’re giving away a copy. Simply leave a comment here (it need be nothing more than your name) and we’ll draw a winner at random. The winner’s name will be published here next Tuesday.

Photography by Rookuzz, Sourced via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young, author of Dancing Priest.
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Comments

  1. SimplyDarlene says

    Sir Glynn, you are always stretching out the ole noggin’ for me. Until today, I’ve not heard of this man or this book, but the simplicity you speak of, resonates with me.

    Blessings.

    Reply

  10. Joy says

    This sounds lovely; I had no idea these were written!

    Spending so much time in front of icons myself these days, I understand the depth and clarity of the glowing radiance hidden away.

    Reply

  22. Joelle Chase says

    We’ve been passing this gorgeous volume of Rilke’s early drafts around the CAC office, trying not to cry over the pristine pages–feels like getting to know Rilke all over again. The author graciously sent our copy to Richard Rohr, and we’re trying to be nice about sharing.

    Reply

  23. Brad Frakes says

    Poetry is a language, and like all languages, its primary function is to communicate, if only with one’s own soul.

    Reply

  24. Erin Livolsi says

    To bask in the light of long gone poets is most assuredly a chance to emit that light to those who are still here…Pick Me

    Reply

  28. Diana Trautwein says

    “Letters to a Young Poet” is a favorite of mine – I have a beautiful hand-calligraphied wall hanging of my favorite quote from that book, which includes this phrase: “live the questions now…” I wrote about it and posted pictures in the spring of last year. I’d love to read the poems and enjoyed this review. Thanks.

    Reply

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