October 24, 2013
“The only journey is the one within.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Rilke is regarded by many as the most significant poet in the German language. Born in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Rilke was sent to military school, but rebelled and studied the humanities at university. He became the protégé, and some say lover, of Lou Andreas-Salome, an older intellectual woman, and traveled extensively with her. He settled in Paris after the turn of the century, writing much of his best work there, including his Requiem poems. He later lived in Trieste and then Zurich where he continued to examine the nature of life and death. In 1922 he finished his best known work, the Duino Elegies. He died of leukemia at 51 in Switzerland. His slim volume Letters to a Young Poet, published posthumously, contains advice and encouragement to those who seek fulfillment in an artistic life. I highly recommend it.
Good Morning Gloucester 