The Poet's Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke

Arrived in good condition and before scheduled delivery time.

How did I live this long without the wisdom of Rilke? Recommended to me by a poet, this unusual volume is really two books in one. Ulrich's Baer's extensive introduction itself is a work of great subtlety and wisdom. He presents Rilke as a complex figure whose romantic image is at variance with his deep commitment to mindfulness and rigorous self-examination. Then there is Rilke himself relentlessly holding us to the originality and delicious upredictability of our fate. Every writer should have this volume in their personal library. Paul Gilbert, Jr.

I happen to love reading Rilke. This collection is quite good, and representative of his best work. Some his work reminds me of the contemplative Sufi writer and poet, Rumi. Particularly interesting about Rilke is the period in which he wrote, during the period leading up to and including the great upheavals in European civilization, the rise of communism, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the First World War. His writings become a prelude to Existentialism, while retaining the personal mystical traditions of a vanishing culture.

Rilke is a knower of Life to its roots, he manages all the elements of life seeking difficulty to gain might, a truly wise one, balanced, ideal master of his passions and pan existentialist. His elegance and majesty in the use of language and ideas is truly present tense and is a very contemporary thinker.

I found it very distracting to come across God spelled "god". I think it's unfair to Rilke, his God was definitely Christian.

I like the extra information about Rilke, his work habits as a writer, and his dedication as an author. Just now at beginning of book but eager to read more.

this is not a book for quick quotes, but one for reading and reflection. Still, I like reaching Rilke's work. Not all will.

Wonderful reading material

caveat . this book has been reissued as a paperback but under a different title " Letters on Life . extraordinary selection of Rilke's letters ie of writing which would be inaccessible to those who have no German beautiful translation by Ulrich Baier and a must for lovers of Rike's poetry a d even if you do not, give his letters a chance . in this selection they can stand on their own . But this selection supplements Baier's own FINE reading of Rilke : The RILKE ALAPHABET