num_pages: 142
description: We have a marvelous, almost legendary, image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rilke was staying at a castle (Duino) on the sea near Trieste. One morning he walked out on the battlements and climbed down to where the rocks dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the wind, which was blowing with great force, Rilke seemed to hear a voice: Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?). He wrote these words, the opening of the first Duino Elegy, in his notebook, then went inside to continue what was to be his major work and one of the literary masterpieces of the century.
language: English
title: Duino Elegies
titlecomplete: Duino Elegies
genres: Germany, 20th Century, Religion, Philosophy, Poetry, Literature, German Literature, Classics, Fiction, Spirituality
ratings_count: 8746
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Schlegel-Tieck Prize
category: Patrick Bridgwater
publisher: University of California Press