Publisher's Synopsis
This is the definitive edition of New Poems. This translation of New Poems is the first complete translation of the two volumes in English that mimics the formal prowess of the German original. Translator Joseph Cadora provides commentary on each of the 400-plus poems. Foreword by Robert Hass. There have only been two previous complete translations of Rilke's New Poems: J.B. Leishman's (1964, OP) and Stephen Cohn (1998). Neither is faithful to Rilke's original forms, rhyme schemes, or meanings. Edward Snow translated the New Poems in 2001 but only included selected works in his volumes. While there are various volumes of "selected poems" of Rilke, they include fewer than ten of the four hundred New Poems. The New Poems mark a turning point in Rilke's career: they show Rilke becoming the poet that we know him as today. They comprise all of Rilke's mature work prior to the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus. Rilke wrote the poems while living in Paris and working as a secretary for Auguste Rodin, and under Rodin's suggestions he.
