Emma, In you, Rilke lives. If he had known that almost one hundred years after his death someone would speak about his words and letters and poems with such sincerity and devotion, any doubts he may have had about being remembered, would have disappeared for him.
I first encountered Rilke in the film Jojo Rabbit. It ends with the quotation "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final." From then, i became interested to his poetry. But the problem is i don't even know where to start, so thank you so much for this.
Thank you for that incredible quote. I've just sent it to my girlfriend who I've fallen out with. If that doesn't work nothing will. And I'll throw in the towel and move on....
I was introduced to Rilke by a poet who was a painful experience in my life. Yet, being introduced to him was the best thing ever happened to me. I was preparing for medical school test back then, and reading Rilke and trying to write like him was my guilty pleasure. I had caged myself in loneliness, and succumbed to depression that gets the best of isolation. Yet, in his poetry, what resonated to me the most was the way he cajoles this loneliness and then tames it, as if petting it, wiping the tears, and telling a sweet joke to make the person smile. It was beautiful. I felt like I had a companion. I started feeling passionately for his idea of life, how it was so important for me to imbibe. I changed drastically. I opted for Literature later (intentionally failed my medical school tests) and this year I submitted the thesis titled: Solitude and Self-discovery in the Selected Works of Rainer Maria Rilke: Reenvision of Gen Z's Emotional Needs. I recognized myself as someone inclined to write about loss, suffering, and loneliness in a way that was pessimistic. How would that ever resonate with a reader who is depressed! And so, I changed the way I wrote about loss, suffering, and loneliness. I wish there was a Rilke fan's club, because those who have read him deeply know how special he was. It almost makes me cry :')
Even just daily life! Every time I read the Letters I find something new! I have given this book away more times than I can count to people I find languishing with life.
Most of my life I thought Edgar Allan Poe's poetry was the the most sublime in all of the arts, then, I've read Fernando Pessoa and my mind has been changed, but few months ago, I stumbled upon the Duino Elegies and I can't explain what has happened to me. I am still under such strong influence for which I can't find words to explain. His elegies are beyond anything I've ever had the chance to read. I can't wait to get my hands on his other works. Thank you for this absolutely delightful video. It was such a pleasure listening to you speak about him, your history with his works and his works.
Since I live in Germany the first time I read Rilke was in school. I haven't read any of his works afterwards but now would like to rediscover him. So this video is really helpful even though I plan on reading his works in german.
Please do try. Somebody once defined poetry as that which is lost in translation. There are many good renderings of Poems by Rilke, but there is something that cannot be translated because it doesn’t exist in the English language - and that is “der hohe Ton”, a particularly elevated and solemn register and vocabulary that is the reserve of ‘hohe Dichtung’. I have translated prose text from and to English/ German and am very aware of the fact, that each translation is an interpretation. But when it is encounter between you and the original you meet the whole range of possible interpretations.
Thank you, I really loved this video! As an Austrian, I feel particularly strongly about him, and I first encountered one of his poems in a German class in high school. However, I only came to love him a little later when my English professor, who I think liked me for my love of literature and my interest in everything literary, gifted me with a book of Rilke's poetry. In it my professor had put a note saying that Rilke was his favourite poet and that he wanted to pass that book on to me so that I too could discover his words. Which I did, and I fell head over heels in love. :)
In 2011 I traveled to a small village in southern England called Bruton where I helped a woman renovate her kitchen. I stayed in a shed in her backyard that she had converted to a cozy little hut. She was a bit of a mystic; scatterbrained and cosmic. I stayed there for about a week and on my departure she handed me a book. Of course at the time I thought 'yeah like I'm gonna read some random book I've never heard of.' Luckily I kept it with me on my way through many other countries and it eventually landed on my shelf at home. It wasn't until about 3 years later that I picked the book up out of curiosity. And to my amazement I was captured by it. I'd never heard anyone pour over the warm mysterious beauty of life the way Rilke does. Especially with such gentle fatalism. It's like he is writing in angst with how alive he feels. His sentences are deeply visceral, like he has laid his body out and let his soul permeate the entire horizon; to count and measure it and then let go. Just as you said here Emma, for me as well, there is a stark contrast to the person I was before I read Rilke and the person I am today with Rilke in my life. While I'm here I have to mention Stephen Mitchell. Have you read his Rilke translations? If you haven't, you must! I promise you will leave all the others behind. Thank you for the video Emma. All your shared thoughts and feelings are much appreciated.
oh, wow! fancy coming across your comment. how Rilke happened to me is different - over the last few years, i am discovering my writing is where i am my most authentic self, that is where i have the most to offer. i was asking the Universe for guidance if writing is, indeed my path. happened to come across Rilke's writing for the first time just a couple weeks ago on Goodreads quotes. i couldn't stop myself once i felt his words resonate somewhere within me i'd only felt in the deepest stillness. his words in "letters to a young poet" - not just his words, but the heart they flowed from, the loneliness they talk of - i swear they flowed from my own heart, from my own solitude. stephen mitchell - he is an institution unto himself. Tao te Ching - his is the only version, and i've read it over and over innumerable times. letters to a young poet, too, stephen mitchell's is the one. you don't come away from Rilke's words without some of him in your soul. i know i don't.
You talk about Rilke so beautifully that I feel like I've fallen in love with him without even reading any of his works...I really really wanna get into his writing now ♥
I love hearing you talk about Rilke. I haven’t read any of his work yet, but because of you I am planning to have an all Rilke readathon this summer. I would love if you would do individual videos talking more in depth (reading passages/quotes, talking through annotations, etc...) you are so passionate about his work and I know you would have some amazing insights that I would LOVE to hear. I know you love talking about him so hopefully this will be something you want to do!! Thank you for all your amazing content.
I'm from Germany and spent my early childhood in a street named after Rilke so I was introduced to him at a very young age. A little later I found a few of his books lying around at my dad's place and I remember being so excited about it and reading poems by him, not understanding a word but finding them so beautiful. I haven't read anything by him in years now but the way you always talk about him made me want to change that so I was overflowed with excitement when I saw the title of this video. I often find myself gravitating towards your channel when in search of comfort or a reminder of the beauty in every day things so thank you so much Emma♡^^
I first read Rilke in high school. I went to an arts school for high school and took a class called Art in Society, and we had a whole unit on Letters to a Young Poet. We studied different poems of his, and I remember printing out about 50 pages of poems by him to take to class because I loved them so much. That love has not faded! I'm reading Letters a Young Poet again and it's so so wonderful.
I think the first time i read Rilke i took the duino elegies from the uni library almost exclusively because the cover was pretty. I started reading it at night expecting very little and the first four verses were so beautiful they completely changed my life and the chemistry of my brain. Years later I feel that he started in me a change that I could have never done by myself but needed, and I am such a better, happier person for it. My entire understanding of God, beauty, gender and art rest on the ideas that he made me find in myself. I actually came to Austria in erasmus to read him in german! Love Rilke. And love your videos!!
I learned of Rilke through your videos. However, I watched JoJo Rabbit for the first time at the weekend and right at the end, his quote “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” came up on the screen and I resonated with it so much. So a few days ago, I ordered Letters To A Young Poet because I honestly just felt like it was a sign and that I needed to learn more about him/his work. And now you have made this video, it feels like even more of a sign. I’m just at the very beginning of my journey with Rilke, but thank you Emma for your videos because I wouldn’t have discovered him without you and your videos.
i literally love his poetry especially the ones about death. his poetry helped me a lot about the thing i’m not open :) and i really want to learn german for reading his poems in his own language. btw thank you for the video 🥺🖤
I'm German, so I first encountered Rilke in school. I still don't understand Rilke at all and I've struggled with poetry my whole life. But recently a friend of mine has begun shareing her poetry with me and I have begun to feel and write poetry. Still I do not understand most poems and especially Rilke is quite enigmatic to me, but I'm so very glad that translators worked very hard to bring different people, more poetic then me, Rilkes words.
Actually, you introduced me to Rilke. And for that ill be forever thankful. You mentioned it in one of your videos and I was interested enough to go look him up. and I stumbled upon one of his random pieces of poetry and I was like wow, it really did me bring to tears didn't it?
There's a quote of Rilke, just before the credits of Jojo Rabbit. It struck me as profound and meaningful. I became immediately interested in Rilke, did a bit of research on him and ended up finding this (very good and useful) video. You've definitely made me even more excited and interested in his work! So I texted my uncle, fortunately he has some of his books, Letters to a Young Poet included. Went to his house , picked it up, and now its here with me! Just started reading it and I can already feel its going to be a favorite. All of this happened today. Thanks for the help Emma :)
Excellent! Much appreciated. I first heard of Rilke a few months ago (at the age of 57) when I came across this quote somewhere: “So don’t be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known, casting its shadow over all you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don’t know what work they are accomplishing within you?” ― Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke You might appreciate: "You may change the name, but the fact remains. What is the drug which you call karma or destiny? It made you believe yourself to be what you are not. What is it, and can you be free of it? Before you go further you must accept, at least as a working theory, that you are not what you appear to be, that you are under the influence of a drug. Then only will you have the urge and the patience to examine the symptoms and search for their common cause. All that a Guru can tell you is: ‘My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken about yourself. You are not the person you think yourself to be.’ Trust nobody, not even yourself. Search, find out, remove and reject every assumption till you reach the living waters and the rock of truth. Until you are free of the drug, all your religions and sciences, prayers and Yogas are of no use to you, for based on a mistake, they strengthen it. But if you stay with the idea that you are neither the body nor the mind, not even their witness, but altogether beyond: your mind will grow in clarity; your desires in purity; your actions in charity, and that inner distillation will take you to another world, a world of truth and fearless love. Resist your old habits of feeling and thinking; keep on telling yourself: ‘No, not so, it cannot be so; I am not like this, I do not need it, I do not want it’, and a day will surely come when the entire structure of error and despair will collapse and the ground will be free for a new life. After all, you must remember, that all your preoccupations with yourself are only in your waking hours and partly in your dreams; in sleep all is put aside and forgotten. It shows how little important is your waking life, even to yourself, that merely lying down and closing the eyes can end it. Each time you go to sleep you do so without the least certainty of waking up and yet you accept the risk." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Emma- simply amazing. Your passion transcends and I find myself immensely inspired as the day I discovered Rainer for myself. I was bartending in Washing ton DC in my early 20's. I met a show girl...lol..I met an actress staring in a a famous Broadway musical during a sold our run at Fords Theater. Yes THE Fords Theater where Lincoln was assassinated. In fact the bar I worked out was next door to the house where Lincoln died. My bar was a boarding house in lat 1870's- the gentleman that scribed the final scene lived in the room where the bar was located. This is the same room I met my friend who would one day tell me to read "Love and other Difficulties". She went on to become Andrew Lloyd Webber's choreographer for Whistle Down The Wind which premiered at the National Theatre in DC. My friend secured 2 seats for me on opening night. Strangely, the seat next to us was empty. Halfway through the first act an older gentlemen sat in the empty seat adjacent to me and my friend. In less than 10 minutes he was gone. It was ALW. Later that nigh at a cast party, I told my friend I was moving to Boulder but had major reservations. She handed me Rainer's book and said "go find your solitude". 25 years later I'm still too young to completely understand but welcome every day to try and learn... But I like you who still have more of his works to explore, I wait patiently to love and savor the next unread page, unread line, and unread word yet to be uncovered and experienced. " You who never arrived in my arms, Beloved, who were lost from the start, I don't even know what songs would please you."
So fine a contribution to appreciating Rilke. Thank you 💜 and good job putting yourself Out-There He changed my life as well, from when I first came up on Letters To a Young Poet, in NYC , 1980. I tracked his ghost in Switzerland, specifically Soglio. And took him along on a solo backpack trip in California..Ever sublime. At a time of my own crisis, of How I may love my life...I wrote a poem to myself, which began: "Never kill- off your inner Rilke ...Your life, when you most need it may depend on your pushing through...The Sonnets blossom from the Elegies, and are veined with their dark ore..."
Thank you! I learned of Rilke some 20 years ago working with a brilliant therapist. I was going through a very difficult time. He used the poems to help me think deeply and to heal. I still see this therapist as I have needed him. Most recently we have been discussing “the man watching.” I am now a therapist and love sharing Rilke with my clients where appropriate. I have not read all of his works, am now inspired by you to start again. I’m also using this list to gift some of these for my son’s upcoming 30th birthday. Again, thank you for sharing ❤.
I learned of Rilke through you and your videos, Emma. 😊 I came across your channel a few months ago. I took your suggestion and picked up a copy of "Letters to a Young Poet". I really enjoyed it and look forward to diving deeper into his works. Thank you for making your content... and thank you for being you.
I discovered Rilke from my Venus Sequence studies of the Gene Keys by Richard Rudd. Richard recorded a passionate video about Rilke as one of the Ecstatics, where he very enthusiastically introduces Rilke’s work. Right now I have started with Letters to a young poet, which I am enjoying immensely! Thank you too for so brightly and energetically communicating your love for Rilke’s work! Love & peace, Paul
I am German and read Rilke for the first time in 4th grade, where we covered "the panther" in school. It had such a big influence on me at that time that I could never forget about him
I have just come to Rilke myself and I have been floored by how significant his writings are. I was introduced to him via a quote from Sir Roger Scruton that went something like, "Does the Universe into which we dissolve taste of us at all?" I have purchased and started reading The Duino Elegies (though I believe I should have started somewhere before this). I'm challenged by what he is saying but the beauty of his prose is undeniable. Thank you for walking me through this introduction to his work. I appreciate you.
i discovered Rilke today from an Insta story Namjoon of BTS shared of the book "Letters to a young poet". I am almost finished with the book and cannot wait to read more of his works!
I discovered Rilke’s work for the first time through Letters to a Young Poet, in college & I absolutely resonate with the idea of it changing your life. Reading Rilke’s work is such a rewarding experience.
I don't remember why, but I first read rilke letters right after reading Hermann Hesse Demian, and they both had a huge impact on me. They became very close to my heart. Thank you for this awesome video!
I read Rilke during my Master's as part of my Modernist Poetry class. Have carried him with me in my heart since then. Ibwas over the moon when I found that Rilke stayed in Locarno, Switzerland for a while, because I was born there. But yes. Rilke is one of my favourite poets. And I don't see that ever changing. :) ❤️
I found Rilke when researching before my interview for oxford university in England. I first found out about his poetry after watching the film “wings of desire” which I highly recommend as the director uses the theme of angels explored in Rilke’s Duino Elegies. It’s a real beautiful film set in West Berlin and it shines a light on the beauty of the everyday and makes me feel at peace and content with my life. Anyway thanks for the video I really enjoyed it! Also you remind me of the American version of ruby granger
Hi! Thank you for these recommendations. I really love how you’re describing Rilke and his works. It’s fascinating and inspires me to read his poems and letters! I’ve heard about Rilke for the first time with the help of my favourite group “Cocteau Twins”. They have an amazing song called “Rilkean Heart”, (which is actually my favorite of all time, especially acoustic EP version). I love Cocteau Twins so much and I wish more people would know about their beautiful music! So, since I heard the song, I’ve been interested in Rilke’s works. And now I’m starting “Letters to a young poet”!!
Actually my first ever encounter of Rilke is you! The way you talk about him and his works reminds me of the way I'd talk about artists or arts I find comfort in. And his body of works seemingly overlap with the things that I resonate with. Can't wait to get a copy of Letters to a Young Poet!
Hey, Emma. I have yet to meet you, like 3 years from back then; however, I do love how you talk about him. His poems also saved my life, one of his poems: "Duino Elegies" was offered to me by my psychiatrist. I loved him so much and how he shared his own perspective of life. I cannot thank you enough for sharing such a beautiful man with a perfect soul! Oh, and nice to meet you!
I read a quote of Rainer Maria Rilke on Inner Compass Learning (Substack platform), dated July 8, 2024 and the writing is entitled, "Pop Pop Wow: The Heavy and the Light." Thank you for making this video - your sharing interests me - I will continue to explore his work ❤.
Thank you for introducing me to Rilke. I first read the dark interval and loved it. I gave the book away to a friend going through grieve. Now I’m reading book of hours. Thank you for your recommendation ❤
Omg I need this. I’m German and I’ve never really read Rilke because he is so over referenced here that it’s almost annoying (at least that’s my impression). But you’ve convinced me that I should take a closer look! Looking forward to learning where I will start.
I first found Rilke, funny enough, in the caption of an instagram post. His words resonated and his ideas were fascinating, especially, like you said, the syntax and the imagery. Thank you for producing this video. I have been meaning to get into Rilke for a long time and unsure of where to begin. He, just like he is for you, is one of my favorite poets.
Thank you so much for your enchanting, reflective and inspiring introduction to Rilke. I shall certainly begin to read him. My encounter with Rilke is while reading my mother's love letters of 1960. She quotes Rilke saying - a love that consists of two solitudes protecting and bordering on, and greeting each other.
I screamed when I saw this video bc I don't know anyone irl who has read him. I relate w you so hard I will cry. Rilke is all I think about half the time. I found letters to a young poet in a bookstore while I was working during my semester break. I did not expect that little book to save my life but it did. I go absolutely feral when people on the internet or works of art mention him bc it's so uncommon. I'm glad I came across your video.
I remember reading Rilke in my german literature class at high school, I instantly fell in love with him and his work. The way he writes is simply magical. (I apologize for the typos, spanish is my first language). Der Panther (The panther) is my favourite poem of him, how he describes this incredible animal in solitude, caged and kept captive is so allusive to his own life and the human experience. The act of walking on circles is such a nice metaphor to anxiety and depression.
this couldn't have come at a better time! just when i was wondering where to start and just having ordered letters to a young poet! thank you for this and for all your other recommendations the way you talk about these books make me want to read them so badly
I read letters to a young poet after finding your talk on him .. it’s a book for everyone to read - You have amassed a huge body literature Of which I have become your student I am so grateful to have stumbled upon your channel .. Really good work emmie.
Rilke quotes kept popping up on Tumblr for me. I immediately bought Letters to a Young Poet as as soon as you mentioned it! It should come by tomorrow ❤
I don’t know when I got it but I have a book of his selected poems with german script. I first began reading it in snippets a year ago. I’ve fallen in love with his words, his emotions. His work is bittersweet to me; it makes me so sad in the best way. Thank you for making this video, ive purchased more of his work since then.
i was first exposed to Rilke when i watched Wim Wenders' german movie "Wings of Desire" (much better by its German title, "the sky over Berlin" or "der Himmel über Berlin"
Thank you for this video!! Years ago I was captivated by a series of quotes on Tumblr that turned out to be my first introduction to Rilke. I am first reading Letters to a Young Poet now and it's astounding. I only wish I read it earlier in life. I'll definitely have to purchase more of his works soon.
New to your channel and 6 months late to the conversation, however, I had to thank you for this. 5 sec version of why; I lost my 12yo son in the worst way. Trauma physically changes a person fundamentally. To survive, I had to find another way to look at death and this life. I had to find a way to close the gap between where he is an I am, to know there is no gap to be had. I have just recently been introduced to Rilke and I've never reads words that cut through and spoke directly to my soul. To my soul's soul. Thank you, sincerely, for these recommendations. Thank you for all your videos and for putting simplistic beauty into the world.
After formulating my thoughts a tiny bit: Rilke's ideas concerning suffering v. beauty, life v. death really - in my eyes - really resemble Derrida's deconstruction.. The latter has a notoriously difficult -- though in my opinion amazing -- and evocative writing style, but definitely check him out if you wish to expand the idea of 'melting down the coins' of life. Another interesting connection is Rilke to Goethe (another amazing writer of prose and poetry) both in their ideas concerning an eclectic, fluid path to God and in giving love as fully as you can -- Goethe has quickly become one of my favorites
@@josephine7583 absolutely, Josephine. Can't read a line of rilke without being reminded of Goethe. Goethe really is something else. He wrote a collection of poems in Italy named "Roman elegies". They are sublime. Rilke must have studied them extensively. Because their marks are all over the duino elegies. Two of my favourites by Goethe: his play : Faust, part one. And his haunting and evocative novel: elective affinities. Stupendous beyond description. One of my favourite quotes of all time is from Faust: "The eternal feminine draws us ever upwards and onwards" . I admire him so much. Even went on a little pilgrimage to his home town of Weimar. It's exactly as it was when he lived there. His home is now a museum. Fascinating stuff, indeed. Noel
@@noeltroy2634 Wow! That's so fascinating, thanks for enlightening me. I've only recently started reading Goethe -- with Werther -- and I love every word I read so far.
@@josephine7583 werther is the epitome of "the sturm und drang" period of high German 18th century literature, "strurm und drang" translating as "storm and stress". And "Werther" caused an unprecedented amount of suicides in Europe in imitation of Werther's. There is an opera after the novel by the French composer Masssenet, which is not too bad at all. Title simply "Werther". Here's another Goethe quote from the above mentioned "Roman elegies". "Whatever you may read in a hundred books, or a lengthy fable, unless it's held together by love it's all a tower of babbel". I consider Goethe on an equal footing to shakespeare. But I'm English. And in England very few have heard of him. And as James Joyce said in "Ulyssess" "over there, in England, in literary circles, they keep mentioning a German writer called Goatee" when "goatee" was 55 he married his 17 year housekeeper, christiana vulpius. She couldn't read or write. And they spent a blissful thirty years together. That calibre of writing is not produced today at all. It's depth and thoroughness, its quality. Nietszche notoriously says in zarathustra, "teach everyone to read and write and the whole thing will stink". Controversial as ever. Although there was one German writer in the early to mid-twentieth century who took up from where Goethe left off, and even excelled Goethe. Writing some of the greatest novels ever written. For ten points, please tell me his name....... If I haven't heard from you in a few hours I will post his name on this thread, suggesting a few of his works. I'm an actor and a playwright /poet. And have been studying literature for over 30 years, since I was a boy. And there is just no end to it. One subject leads to another. Ad infinitum. And so on. Don't know how people live without these things in their lives. Must be very dreary. I live by Rilke's famous quote. .. "I wish to be alone, or with those who know things nobody else knows" right now, Josephine, name of the German writer who took up from where Goethe left off........ Noel
@@josephine7583 ps, I like the term you use "melting down the coins of life" where did you get that from? Don't know anything about derrida. But will check him out. Been too preoccupied with plato, schopenhauer, and Nietszche. Something new for me to pursue. Do email me, and we can enter into a literary correspondence. That would be really good. I'll send you some of my verse. Currently working on a collection of sonnets. Email address: Noeltroy@hotmail.co.uk
We are teaching him now in the foreign literature class, and while looking for some information about him and his work, I came across your video) Thank you for spreading the word about this wonderful poet, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot!
I learned about him in school because I live in Germany but back then I wasn’t really interested in him. But hearing you always talk about him so beautiful i really have to try one of his books
discovered rilke through the tim ferris 5 bullet friday email. so stoked that i can speak, read and write german. cant wait to read some of his works in both languages! thank you for this wonderful video!
Even though this video is old, I ought to comment. I came across Rilke in quite a precarious time for myself, not too long ago and possibly still enshrouded and dazed by uncertainty and turmoil I happened upon Rilke's 'Archaic Torso of Apollo'. The way his words unfurled like elixir in absolute brilliance about this figure utterly enchanted me, I felt an almost euphoria the way a man could rapture language to speak with such intensity to summate an immense beauty in an elegy about how we in existence are pierced by it and must allow it and ourselves to be changed by it.
I've discovered your channel a month ago and whenever you talked about rilke it sounded so lovely, then I took interest in reading more about him. While I was searching for where to star reading german literature, I saw his name and immediately remembered you and your love for his works. Thank you so so so much for talking about him, it made me much more curious about him and what kind of books he wrote. I was relieved to find his works translated to my native language (portuguese) because I feel I'll enjoy them more in this way. I can't express how thankful I am for all the amazing books and writers you've already recommended to me
I'm having one of the worst weeks in this year so far, but watching you talk about something so precious to you is a good way to forget about it. I'm already looking to buy one of Rilke works because of you ❤️
I saw the quotation somewhere random around a year ago, 'I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone'. Since then it has been my desktop wallpaper. Thanks for the video!
My encounter with Rilke was so coincidental. It’s like a meant-to-be. I just picked up letters to a young poet on the college library shelf when I was looking for some other poems which I didn’t even remember now. I thought it’s a short book so why not. But it took me three years to read because I’m scared of finishing it. When reading the first paragraph, I immediately knew it’s gonna be my favorite. Thank you so much for the recommendation!!!
I discovered Rilke on your channel, but was reminded of him on The Weeknd's new album Dawn FM! I need to say the atmosphere in this video was so beautiful and calming. The sound of the wind in the background, your soothing voice, even your jean jacket, and the reverence with which you spoke about your favorite poet gave me this warm nostalgic feeling of when I was in middle school sitting outside on fall mornings with friends waiting for school to start. 🥺🤍
I loved listening to your Rilke experience! My own interest was piqued by a textpost about his quote "this heavy humanness", I can't believe I had never heard of him before. It left me so intrigued for more of his words and emotions!! I haven't found the work which inspired me yet, but now I have a great place to start! Thank you so much, I hope you're safe! xx
My first (and only, so far) introduction to Rilke, was just yesterday. Well, the day before really. I was binge watching Gilmore Girls read-a-thons (as you do) and ‘Letters to a young man’ came up a couple of times. I was so intrigued I ordered a copy and it arrived the next day. I read it immediately and, wow! How did I not know about this man before now?? The way he writes and describes everything is so beautiful and meaningful. Then today I come across this and it’s just perfect! I’ll be referencing your recommendations for future Rilke reads, for sure! 😊
Rilke was recommended by a theologian I admire, Richard Rohr. After read a couple of his popular poems, I immediately ordered three of his books. Very much looking forward to sinking into them this weekend! :) thank you for sharing and your passion!
I was first introduced to Rilke by your channel, and I'm currently reading my first collection of his. It's everything I thought and hoped it would be so I had to come back and rewatch this video.
This is such a brilliant introduction and guide to Rilke’s work. I’ve been wanting to explore his work for so long and this has been so helpful as to how to approach him. Thank you so much Emmie.
@* e m m i e * thank you for introducing me to rilke!! I'm german so i've only ever known him from school and i thought he would be so boring and bland but once i heard you talk about him with such passion i finally looked into the book of hours and my mind is blown!! for once in my life i'm grateful to know german and to be able to read this in the original!!
I started reading The Dark Interval because you recommended it in your 100 book recommendations video. My mom is very sick with stomach cancer and I have to say, this was the best book recommendation I have ever received. Thank you💕
Your videos feel like warmth and comfort on a chilly winter night. I rarely comment on RUclips but your channel is my retreating space after a long stressful day. Love you, Emma! ❤
I discovered Rilke by accident, I was looking for philosophy books in a bookstore. I then saw a Rilke’s expression on the cover of a book, his expression drew me in. I knew nothing about it, except for the title and his expression. I honestly read the book “letters to a young poet” without knowing who he was. Honestly one of the best books I have ever read.
it’s only now i have started to read him i’ve realised how rilke has appeared before in my life and i haven’t even noticed - majorly, it was you who first introduced me to rilke in depth (i knew of him, not read him). then, funnily enough, i was watching gilmore girls, and rory holds up a copy of rilkes letters to a younger poet. i ordered a pocket size the next day
For many years I collected Rilke books. I have a rare book of letters to princess Maria. The notebooks of Malti Reading that is like a paragraph is a lifetime... It's the most challenging book to try to focus and not let your mind wander... Rilke will take you to these places...
Thank you for this video! I recently started reading Letters to a Young Poet as my first work of Rilke's and am absolutely loving it. This will be extremely helpful when moving on to reading more of his books.
Emma, In you, Rilke lives. If he had known that almost one hundred years after his death someone would speak about his words and letters and poems with such sincerity and devotion, any doubts he may have had about being remembered, would have disappeared for him.
🥲🥲🥲
You should consider starting a podcast! Your voice is so soothing 🥺
i would 100% listen to her podcasts
yes!
she should make audiobooks hahah, i'd love listening to them
I was just about to comment this haha
I would absolutely love a podcast!
I first encountered Rilke in the film Jojo Rabbit. It ends with the quotation "Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final."
From then, i became interested to his poetry. But the problem is i don't even know where to start, so thank you so much for this.
Thank you for that incredible quote. I've just sent it to my girlfriend who I've fallen out with. If that doesn't work nothing will. And I'll throw in the towel and move on....
I was about to comment the same thing! I can't wait to read his work.
@@nadeshkaholmes9511 me three
“The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.” - Rilke
Unbelievable, isn't it. Mind blowing. Couldn't possibly go any deeper. Thank you for the quote
In my everyday life, people don't talk about books it's not common at all
Finding this channel was like finding a missing part 😭💖
I hope you stay here life long so that yr heart never miss the missing piece of yr comfort🌹
I feel you! Watching booktube is like having so many bookish friends 😍
@@Viralsbookreviews thank you for your kind words, I hope that too 💖
@@sukki6052 yes TOTALLY, I think this is the best thing about RUclips
i dont have lots of irls who love books as much as i do either! so booktube is such a great community
I was introduced to Rilke by a poet who was a painful experience in my life. Yet, being introduced to him was the best thing ever happened to me. I was preparing for medical school test back then, and reading Rilke and trying to write like him was my guilty pleasure. I had caged myself in loneliness, and succumbed to depression that gets the best of isolation. Yet, in his poetry, what resonated to me the most was the way he cajoles this loneliness and then tames it, as if petting it, wiping the tears, and telling a sweet joke to make the person smile. It was beautiful. I felt like I had a companion. I started feeling passionately for his idea of life, how it was so important for me to imbibe. I changed drastically. I opted for Literature later (intentionally failed my medical school tests) and this year I submitted the thesis titled: Solitude and Self-discovery in the Selected Works of Rainer Maria Rilke: Reenvision of Gen Z's Emotional Needs. I recognized myself as someone inclined to write about loss, suffering, and loneliness in a way that was pessimistic. How would that ever resonate with a reader who is depressed! And so, I changed the way I wrote about loss, suffering, and loneliness. I wish there was a Rilke fan's club, because those who have read him deeply know how special he was. It almost makes me cry :')
a most enjoyable 35 minutes and 10 seconds...such a pleasure an evenness the world is in need of.
I read Letters to a Young Poet on a recommendation from my acting teacher.
Hands down some of the best advice for any artists struggling out there.
Even just daily life! Every time I read the Letters I find something new! I have given this book away more times than I can count to people I find languishing with life.
I am so thrilled to see someone as young as you so taken with Rilke. I believe he is the greatest poet of all time.
Most of my life I thought Edgar Allan Poe's poetry was the the most sublime in all of the arts, then, I've read Fernando Pessoa and my mind has been changed, but few months ago, I stumbled upon the Duino Elegies and I can't explain what has happened to me. I am still under such strong influence for which I can't find words to explain. His elegies are beyond anything I've ever had the chance to read.
I can't wait to get my hands on his other works. Thank you for this absolutely delightful video. It was such a pleasure listening to you speak about him, your history with his works and his works.
Since I live in Germany the first time I read Rilke was in school. I haven't read any of his works afterwards but now would like to rediscover him. So this video is really helpful even though I plan on reading his works in german.
Please do try. Somebody once defined poetry as that which is lost in translation. There are many good renderings
of Poems by Rilke, but there is something that cannot be translated because it doesn’t exist in the English language - and that is “der hohe Ton”, a particularly elevated and solemn register and vocabulary that is the reserve of ‘hohe Dichtung’. I have translated prose text from and to English/
German and am very aware of the fact, that each translation is an interpretation. But when it is encounter between you and the original you meet the whole range of possible interpretations.
After this video I ordered letters to a young poet and I just read the first letter and wow...thank you for introducing me to this man’s writing
Thank you, I really loved this video! As an Austrian, I feel particularly strongly about him, and I first encountered one of his poems in a German class in high school. However, I only came to love him a little later when my English professor, who I think liked me for my love of literature and my interest in everything literary, gifted me with a book of Rilke's poetry. In it my professor had put a note saying that Rilke was his favourite poet and that he wanted to pass that book on to me so that I too could discover his words. Which I did, and I fell head over heels in love. :)
thank you for making me cry reading this
Your authenticity and enthusiasm entices me to hear what you have to say.
In 2011 I traveled to a small village in southern England called Bruton where I helped a woman renovate her kitchen. I stayed in a shed in her backyard that she had converted to a cozy little hut. She was a bit of a mystic; scatterbrained and cosmic. I stayed there for about a week and on my departure she handed me a book. Of course at the time I thought 'yeah like I'm gonna read some random book I've never heard of.' Luckily I kept it with me on my way through many other countries and it eventually landed on my shelf at home. It wasn't until about 3 years later that I picked the book up out of curiosity. And to my amazement I was captured by it. I'd never heard anyone pour over the warm mysterious beauty of life the way Rilke does. Especially with such gentle fatalism. It's like he is writing in angst with how alive he feels. His sentences are deeply visceral, like he has laid his body out and let his soul permeate the entire horizon; to count and measure it and then let go.
Just as you said here Emma, for me as well, there is a stark contrast to the person I was before I read Rilke and the person I am today with Rilke in my life.
While I'm here I have to mention Stephen Mitchell. Have you read his Rilke translations? If you haven't, you must! I promise you will leave all the others behind.
Thank you for the video Emma. All your shared thoughts and feelings are much appreciated.
oh, wow! fancy coming across your comment.
how Rilke happened to me is different - over the last few years, i am discovering my writing is where i am my most authentic self, that is where i have the most to offer. i was asking the Universe for guidance if writing is, indeed my path.
happened to come across Rilke's writing for the first time just a couple weeks ago on Goodreads quotes. i couldn't stop myself once i felt his words resonate somewhere within me i'd only felt in the deepest stillness. his words in "letters to a young poet" - not just his words, but the heart they flowed from, the loneliness they talk of - i swear they flowed from my own heart, from my own solitude.
stephen mitchell - he is an institution unto himself. Tao te Ching - his is the only version, and i've read it over and over innumerable times. letters to a young poet, too, stephen mitchell's is the one.
you don't come away from Rilke's words without some of him in your soul. i know i don't.
You talk about Rilke so beautifully that I feel like I've fallen in love with him without even reading any of his works...I really really wanna get into his writing now ♥
I love hearing you talk about Rilke. I haven’t read any of his work yet, but because of you I am planning to have an all Rilke readathon this summer. I would love if you would do individual videos talking more in depth (reading passages/quotes, talking through annotations, etc...) you are so passionate about his work and I know you would have some amazing insights that I would LOVE to hear. I know you love talking about him so hopefully this will be something you want to do!! Thank you for all your amazing content.
I'm from Germany and spent my early childhood in a street named after Rilke so I was introduced to him at a very young age. A little later I found a few of his books lying around at my dad's place and I remember being so excited about it and reading poems by him, not understanding a word but finding them so beautiful. I haven't read anything by him in years now but the way you always talk about him made me want to change that so I was overflowed with excitement when I saw the title of this video. I often find myself gravitating towards your channel when in search of comfort or a reminder of the beauty in every day things so thank you so much Emma♡^^
I agree that it's extremely hard to explain why we love the things we love so thanks for doing this video!
I first read Rilke in high school. I went to an arts school for high school and took a class called Art in Society, and we had a whole unit on Letters to a Young Poet. We studied different poems of his, and I remember printing out about 50 pages of poems by him to take to class because I loved them so much. That love has not faded! I'm reading Letters a Young Poet again and it's so so wonderful.
I think the first time i read Rilke i took the duino elegies from the uni library almost exclusively because the cover was pretty. I started reading it at night expecting very little and the first four verses were so beautiful they completely changed my life and the chemistry of my brain. Years later I feel that he started in me a change that I could have never done by myself but needed, and I am such a better, happier person for it. My entire understanding of God, beauty, gender and art rest on the ideas that he made me find in myself. I actually came to Austria in erasmus to read him in german! Love Rilke. And love your videos!!
I learned of Rilke through your videos. However, I watched JoJo Rabbit for the first time at the weekend and right at the end, his quote “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” came up on the screen and I resonated with it so much. So a few days ago, I ordered Letters To A Young Poet because I honestly just felt like it was a sign and that I needed to learn more about him/his work. And now you have made this video, it feels like even more of a sign. I’m just at the very beginning of my journey with Rilke, but thank you Emma for your videos because I wouldn’t have discovered him without you and your videos.
i literally love his poetry especially the ones about death. his poetry helped me a lot about the thing i’m not open :) and i really want to learn german for reading his poems in his own language. btw thank you for the video 🥺🖤
I'm German, so I first encountered Rilke in school. I still don't understand Rilke at all and I've struggled with poetry my whole life. But recently a friend of mine has begun shareing her poetry with me and I have begun to feel and write poetry. Still I do not understand most poems and especially Rilke is quite enigmatic to me, but I'm so very glad that translators worked very hard to bring different people, more poetic then me, Rilkes words.
Actually, you introduced me to Rilke. And for that ill be forever thankful. You mentioned it in one of your videos and I was interested enough to go look him up. and I stumbled upon one of his random pieces of poetry and I was like wow, it really did me bring to tears didn't it?
There's a quote of Rilke, just before the credits of Jojo Rabbit. It struck me as profound and meaningful. I became immediately interested in Rilke, did a bit of research on him and ended up finding this (very good and useful) video. You've definitely made me even more excited and interested in his work! So I texted my uncle, fortunately he has some of his books, Letters to a Young Poet included. Went to his house , picked it up, and now its here with me! Just started reading it and I can already feel its going to be a favorite.
All of this happened today. Thanks for the help Emma :)
Bless you for making this. I talked about Rilke with my students today. ❤️
"You Who Never Arrived
" is the poem I love the most. I am just glad you love his poetry!
Excellent! Much appreciated.
I first heard of Rilke a few months ago (at the age of 57) when I came across this quote somewhere:
“So don’t be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known, casting its shadow over all you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don’t know what work they are accomplishing within you?” ― Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
You might appreciate:
"You may change the name, but the fact remains. What is the drug which you call karma or destiny? It made you believe yourself to be what you are not. What is it, and can you be free of it? Before you go further you must accept, at least as a working theory, that you are not what you appear to be, that you are under the influence of a drug. Then only will you have the urge and the patience to examine the symptoms and search for their common cause. All that a Guru can tell you is: ‘My dear Sir, you are quite mistaken about yourself. You are not the person you think yourself to be.’ Trust nobody, not even yourself. Search, find out, remove and reject every assumption till you reach the living waters and the rock of truth. Until you are free of the drug, all your religions and sciences, prayers and Yogas are of no use to you, for based on a mistake, they strengthen it. But if you stay with the idea that you are neither the body nor the mind, not even their witness, but altogether beyond: your mind will grow in clarity; your desires in purity; your actions in charity, and that inner distillation will take you to another world, a world of truth and fearless love. Resist your old habits of feeling and thinking; keep on telling yourself: ‘No, not so, it cannot be so; I am not like this, I do not need it, I do not want it’, and a day will surely come when the entire structure of error and despair will collapse and the ground will be free for a new life. After all, you must remember, that all your preoccupations with yourself are only in your waking hours and partly in your dreams; in sleep all is put aside and forgotten. It shows how little important is your waking life, even to yourself, that merely lying down and closing the eyes can end it. Each time you go to sleep you do so without the least certainty of waking up and yet you accept the risk." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj
Emma- simply amazing. Your passion transcends and I find myself immensely inspired as the day I discovered Rainer for myself. I was bartending in Washing ton DC in my early 20's. I met a show girl...lol..I met an actress staring in a a famous Broadway musical during a sold our run at Fords Theater. Yes THE Fords Theater where Lincoln was assassinated. In fact the bar I worked out was next door to the house where Lincoln died. My bar was a boarding house in lat 1870's- the gentleman that scribed the final scene lived in the room where the bar was located. This is the same room I met my friend who would one day tell me to read "Love and other Difficulties". She went on to become Andrew Lloyd Webber's choreographer for Whistle Down The Wind which premiered at the National Theatre in DC. My friend secured 2 seats for me on opening night. Strangely, the seat next to us was empty. Halfway through the first act an older gentlemen sat in the empty seat adjacent to me and my friend. In less than 10 minutes he was gone. It was ALW. Later that nigh at a cast party, I told my friend I was moving to Boulder but had major reservations. She handed me Rainer's book and said "go find your solitude". 25 years later I'm still too young to completely understand but welcome every day to try and learn... But I like you who still have more of his works to explore, I wait patiently to love and savor the next unread page, unread line, and unread word yet to be uncovered and experienced.
" You who never arrived
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost
from the start,
I don't even know what songs
would please you."
Learned about him through the film “Only You” with Robert Downey Jr. and he has become my all time favorite.
I finished reading Letters to a young poet like a week ago and I LOVED IT (it was my first Rilke) i am so exited to watch this video
also, YOU were the one who introduced him to me
So fine a contribution to appreciating Rilke. Thank you 💜 and good job putting yourself Out-There
He changed my life as well, from when I first came up on Letters To a Young Poet, in NYC , 1980. I tracked his ghost in Switzerland, specifically Soglio. And took him along on a solo backpack trip in California..Ever sublime.
At a time of my own crisis, of How I may love my life...I wrote a poem to myself, which began:
"Never kill- off your inner Rilke ...Your life, when you most need it may depend on your pushing through...The Sonnets blossom from the Elegies, and are veined with their dark ore..."
i'm from austria myself (we speak german here) and seeing your love for rilke makes me soo happy
I don't know how to articulate the deep admiration I feel towards the power of your expressive and life- cherishing language. Thanks!
Thank you! I learned of Rilke some 20 years ago working with a brilliant therapist. I was going through a very difficult time. He used the poems to help me think deeply and to heal. I still see this therapist as I have needed him. Most recently we have been discussing “the man watching.” I am now a therapist and love sharing Rilke with my clients where appropriate. I have not read all of his works, am now inspired by you to start again. I’m also using this list to gift some of these for my son’s upcoming 30th birthday. Again, thank you for sharing ❤.
I learned of Rilke through you and your videos, Emma. 😊 I came across your channel a few months ago. I took your suggestion and picked up a copy of "Letters to a Young Poet". I really enjoyed it and look forward to diving deeper into his works. Thank you for making your content... and thank you for being you.
I discovered Rilke from my Venus Sequence studies of the Gene Keys by Richard Rudd. Richard recorded a passionate video about Rilke as one of the Ecstatics, where he very enthusiastically introduces Rilke’s work. Right now I have started with Letters to a young poet, which I am enjoying immensely! Thank you too for so brightly and energetically communicating your love for Rilke’s work! Love & peace, Paul
I am German and read Rilke for the first time in 4th grade, where we covered "the panther" in school. It had such a big influence on me at that time that I could never forget about him
I have just come to Rilke myself and I have been floored by how significant his writings are. I was introduced to him via a quote from Sir Roger Scruton that went something like, "Does the Universe into which we dissolve taste of us at all?" I have purchased and started reading The Duino Elegies (though I believe I should have started somewhere before this). I'm challenged by what he is saying but the beauty of his prose is undeniable. Thank you for walking me through this introduction to his work. I appreciate you.
i discovered Rilke today from an Insta story Namjoon of BTS shared of the book "Letters to a young poet". I am almost finished with the book and cannot wait to read more of his works!
I discovered Rilke’s work for the first time through Letters to a Young Poet, in college & I absolutely resonate with the idea of it changing your life. Reading Rilke’s work is such a rewarding experience.
I don't remember why, but I first read rilke letters right after reading Hermann Hesse Demian, and they both had a huge impact on me. They became very close to my heart. Thank you for this awesome video!
I read Rilke during my Master's as part of my Modernist Poetry class. Have carried him with me in my heart since then. Ibwas over the moon when I found that Rilke stayed in Locarno, Switzerland for a while, because I was born there. But yes. Rilke is one of my favourite poets. And I don't see that ever changing. :) ❤️
I found Rilke when researching before my interview for oxford university in England. I first found out about his poetry after watching the film “wings of desire” which I highly recommend as the director uses the theme of angels explored in Rilke’s Duino Elegies. It’s a real beautiful film set in West Berlin and it shines a light on the beauty of the everyday and makes me feel at peace and content with my life. Anyway thanks for the video I really enjoyed it! Also you remind me of the American version of ruby granger
Wings of Desire is exceptional.
Hi! Thank you for these recommendations. I really love how you’re describing Rilke and his works. It’s fascinating and inspires me to read his poems and letters! I’ve heard about Rilke for the first time with the help of my favourite group “Cocteau Twins”. They have an amazing song called “Rilkean Heart”, (which is actually my favorite of all time, especially acoustic EP version). I love Cocteau Twins so much and I wish more people would know about their beautiful music! So, since I heard the song, I’ve been interested in Rilke’s works. And now I’m starting “Letters to a young poet”!!
Actually my first ever encounter of Rilke is you! The way you talk about him and his works reminds me of the way I'd talk about artists or arts I find comfort in. And his body of works seemingly overlap with the things that I resonate with. Can't wait to get a copy of Letters to a Young Poet!
Hey, Emma. I have yet to meet you, like 3 years from back then; however, I do love how you talk about him. His poems also saved my life, one of his poems: "Duino Elegies" was offered to me by my psychiatrist. I loved him so much and how he shared his own perspective of life. I cannot thank you enough for sharing such a beautiful man with a perfect soul! Oh, and nice to meet you!
I am so excited to discover your channel! Rilke is my favorite of all time.
I read a quote of Rainer Maria Rilke on Inner Compass Learning (Substack platform), dated July 8, 2024 and the writing is entitled, "Pop Pop Wow: The Heavy and the Light."
Thank you for making this video - your sharing interests me - I will continue to explore his work ❤.
Thank you for introducing me to Rilke. I first read the dark interval and loved it. I gave the book away to a friend going through grieve. Now I’m reading book of hours. Thank you for your recommendation ❤
Omg I need this. I’m German and I’ve never really read Rilke because he is so over referenced here that it’s almost annoying (at least that’s my impression). But you’ve convinced me that I should take a closer look! Looking forward to learning where I will start.
Very helpful. I'm a retired English teacher...thank you for this intro to a poet I'm just 'dipping my toes into'...
I first found Rilke, funny enough, in the caption of an instagram post. His words resonated and his ideas were fascinating, especially, like you said, the syntax and the imagery.
Thank you for producing this video. I have been meaning to get into Rilke for a long time and unsure of where to begin. He, just like he is for you, is one of my favorite poets.
Thank you so much for your enchanting, reflective and inspiring introduction to Rilke. I shall certainly begin to read him. My encounter with Rilke is while reading my mother's love letters of 1960. She quotes Rilke saying - a love that consists of two solitudes protecting and bordering on, and greeting each other.
I screamed when I saw this video bc I don't know anyone irl who has read him. I relate w you so hard I will cry. Rilke is all I think about half the time. I found letters to a young poet in a bookstore while I was working during my semester break. I did not expect that little book to save my life but it did.
I go absolutely feral when people on the internet or works of art mention him bc it's so uncommon. I'm glad I came across your video.
I remember reading Rilke in my german literature class at high school, I instantly fell in love with him and his work. The way he writes is simply magical. (I apologize for the typos, spanish is my first language). Der Panther (The panther) is my favourite poem of him, how he describes this incredible animal in solitude, caged and kept captive is so allusive to his own life and the human experience. The act of walking on circles is such a nice metaphor to anxiety and depression.
this couldn't have come at a better time! just when i was wondering where to start and just having ordered letters to a young poet! thank you for this and for all your other recommendations the way you talk about these books make me want to read them so badly
I read
letters to a young poet after finding your talk on him ..
it’s a book for everyone to read -
You have amassed a huge body literature Of which I have become your student
I am so grateful to have stumbled upon your channel ..
Really good work emmie.
Rilke quotes kept popping up on Tumblr for me.
I immediately bought Letters to a Young Poet as as soon as you mentioned it! It should come by tomorrow ❤
I don’t know when I got it but I have a book of his selected poems with german script. I first began reading it in snippets a year ago. I’ve fallen in love with his words, his emotions. His work is bittersweet to me; it makes me so sad in the best way. Thank you for making this video, ive purchased more of his work since then.
Rilke's poetry is amazing, but i never knew where to start, thank you for this guide
i was first exposed to Rilke when i watched Wim Wenders' german movie "Wings of Desire" (much better by its German title, "the sky over Berlin" or "der Himmel über Berlin"
I can't stop smiling while watching this❤️
I couldn't stop crying 🥺
Thank you for this video!! Years ago I was captivated by a series of quotes on Tumblr that turned out to be my first introduction to Rilke. I am first reading Letters to a Young Poet now and it's astounding. I only wish I read it earlier in life. I'll definitely have to purchase more of his works soon.
THANK YOU, and i love u 🥺 your voice, thoughts, kindness... everything. just thank u for existing.
New to your channel and 6 months late to the conversation, however, I had to thank you for this. 5 sec version of why; I lost my 12yo son in the worst way. Trauma physically changes a person fundamentally. To survive, I had to find another way to look at death and this life. I had to find a way to close the gap between where he is an I am, to know there is no gap to be had. I have just recently been introduced to Rilke and I've never reads words that cut through and spoke directly to my soul. To my soul's soul.
Thank you, sincerely, for these recommendations.
Thank you for all your videos and for putting simplistic beauty into the world.
It's so nice to see how passionate you are, you made me want to read him !
thank you! more people deserve the pleasure of reading Rilke
After formulating my thoughts a tiny bit: Rilke's ideas concerning suffering v. beauty, life v. death really - in my eyes - really resemble Derrida's deconstruction.. The latter has a notoriously difficult -- though in my opinion amazing -- and evocative writing style, but definitely check him out if you wish to expand the idea of 'melting down the coins' of life.
Another interesting connection is Rilke to Goethe (another amazing writer of prose and poetry) both in their ideas concerning an eclectic, fluid path to God and in giving love as fully as you can -- Goethe has quickly become one of my favorites
@@josephine7583 absolutely, Josephine. Can't read a line of rilke without being reminded of Goethe. Goethe really is something else. He wrote a collection of poems in Italy named "Roman elegies". They are sublime. Rilke must have studied them extensively. Because their marks are all over the duino elegies. Two of my favourites by Goethe: his play : Faust, part one. And his haunting and evocative novel: elective affinities. Stupendous beyond description. One of my favourite quotes of all time is from Faust: "The eternal feminine draws us ever upwards and onwards" . I admire him so much. Even went on a little pilgrimage to his home town of Weimar. It's exactly as it was when he lived there. His home is now a museum. Fascinating stuff, indeed. Noel
@@noeltroy2634 Wow! That's so fascinating, thanks for enlightening me. I've only recently started reading Goethe -- with Werther -- and I love every word I read so far.
@@josephine7583 werther is the epitome of "the sturm und drang" period of high German 18th century literature, "strurm und drang" translating as "storm and stress". And "Werther" caused an unprecedented amount of suicides in Europe in imitation of Werther's. There is an opera after the novel by the French composer Masssenet, which is not too bad at all. Title simply "Werther". Here's another Goethe quote from the above mentioned "Roman elegies". "Whatever you may read in a hundred books, or a lengthy fable, unless it's held together by love it's all a tower of babbel". I consider Goethe on an equal footing to shakespeare. But I'm English. And in England very few have heard of him. And as James Joyce said in "Ulyssess" "over there, in England, in literary circles, they keep mentioning a German writer called Goatee" when "goatee" was 55 he married his 17 year housekeeper, christiana vulpius. She couldn't read or write. And they spent a blissful thirty years together. That calibre of writing is not produced today at all. It's depth and thoroughness, its quality. Nietszche notoriously says in zarathustra, "teach everyone to read and write and the whole thing will stink". Controversial as ever. Although there was one German writer in the early to mid-twentieth century who took up from where Goethe left off, and even excelled Goethe. Writing some of the greatest novels ever written. For ten points, please tell me his name....... If I haven't heard from you in a few hours I will post his name on this thread, suggesting a few of his works. I'm an actor and a playwright /poet. And have been studying literature for over 30 years, since I was a boy. And there is just no end to it. One subject leads to another. Ad infinitum. And so on. Don't know how people live without these things in their lives. Must be very dreary. I live by Rilke's famous quote.
.. "I wish to be alone, or with those who know things nobody else knows" right now, Josephine, name of the German writer who took up from where Goethe left off........ Noel
@@josephine7583 ps, I like the term you use "melting down the coins of life" where did you get that from? Don't know anything about derrida. But will check him out. Been too preoccupied with plato, schopenhauer, and Nietszche. Something new for me to pursue. Do email me, and we can enter into a literary correspondence. That would be really good. I'll send you some of my verse. Currently working on a collection of sonnets. Email address: Noeltroy@hotmail.co.uk
screamed a little inside when i saw this in my subscription box!!
We are teaching him now in the foreign literature class, and while looking for some information about him and his work, I came across your video)
Thank you for spreading the word about this wonderful poet, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot!
Your voice is soothing! Your YT content is always relaxing!
I learned about him in school because I live in Germany but back then I wasn’t really interested in him. But hearing you always talk about him so beautiful i really have to try one of his books
I'm here early! I was binging your videos and came across this
You got me into Rilke, and I'm so happy I found him 😭
discovered rilke through the tim ferris 5 bullet friday email. so stoked that i can speak, read and write german. cant wait to read some of his works in both languages! thank you for this wonderful video!
Rilke is envious of what this video is. ❤️
Love 3001 😭
I met him while I was Reading "le livre tibétain de la vie et la mort" and I feel tout when you Said; it totally changed me ❤
Even though this video is old, I ought to comment. I came across Rilke in quite a precarious time for myself, not too long ago and possibly still enshrouded and dazed by uncertainty and turmoil I happened upon Rilke's 'Archaic Torso of Apollo'. The way his words unfurled like elixir in absolute brilliance about this figure utterly enchanted me, I felt an almost euphoria the way a man could rapture language to speak with such intensity to summate an immense beauty in an elegy about how we in existence are pierced by it and must allow it and ourselves to be changed by it.
YESSS
I literally love Shiver, the whole book series
It’s the reason I’ve been interested in reading his books as well.
I've discovered your channel a month ago and whenever you talked about rilke it sounded so lovely, then I took interest in reading more about him. While I was searching for where to star reading german literature, I saw his name and immediately remembered you and your love for his works. Thank you so so so much for talking about him, it made me much more curious about him and what kind of books he wrote. I was relieved to find his works translated to my native language (portuguese) because I feel I'll enjoy them more in this way. I can't express how thankful I am for all the amazing books and writers you've already recommended to me
I'm having one of the worst weeks in this year so far, but watching you talk about something so precious to you is a good way to forget about it. I'm already looking to buy one of Rilke works because of you ❤️
I saw the quotation somewhere random around a year ago, 'I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone'. Since then it has been my desktop wallpaper. Thanks for the video!
What an important podcast. Thank you.❤Both my friend and I discovered your podcast at the same time. Grateful
My encounter with Rilke was so coincidental. It’s like a meant-to-be. I just picked up letters to a young poet on the college library shelf when I was looking for some other poems which I didn’t even remember now. I thought it’s a short book so why not. But it took me three years to read because I’m scared of finishing it. When reading the first paragraph, I immediately knew it’s gonna be my favorite. Thank you so much for the recommendation!!!
I discovered Rilke on your channel, but was reminded of him on The Weeknd's new album Dawn FM!
I need to say the atmosphere in this video was so beautiful and calming. The sound of the wind in the background, your soothing voice, even your jean jacket, and the reverence with which you spoke about your favorite poet gave me this warm nostalgic feeling of when I was in middle school sitting outside on fall mornings with friends waiting for school to start. 🥺🤍
I loved listening to your Rilke experience! My own interest was piqued by a textpost about his quote "this heavy humanness", I can't believe I had never heard of him before. It left me so intrigued for more of his words and emotions!! I haven't found the work which inspired me yet, but now I have a great place to start!
Thank you so much, I hope you're safe! xx
My first (and only, so far) introduction to Rilke, was just yesterday.
Well, the day before really. I was binge watching Gilmore Girls read-a-thons (as you do) and ‘Letters to a young man’ came up a couple of times. I was so intrigued I ordered a copy and it arrived the next day. I read it immediately and, wow! How did I not know about this man before now?? The way he writes and describes everything is so beautiful and meaningful. Then today I come across this and it’s just perfect! I’ll be referencing your recommendations for future Rilke reads, for sure! 😊
You must become a Professor one day.....we need more educators like you!
Rilke was recommended by a theologian I admire, Richard Rohr. After read a couple of his popular poems, I immediately ordered three of his books. Very much looking forward to sinking into them this weekend! :) thank you for sharing and your passion!
I was first introduced to Rilke by your channel, and I'm currently reading my first collection of his. It's everything I thought and hoped it would be so I had to come back and rewatch this video.
This is such a brilliant introduction and guide to Rilke’s work. I’ve been wanting to explore his work for so long and this has been so helpful as to how to approach him. Thank you so much Emmie.
@* e m m i e * thank you for introducing me to rilke!! I'm german so i've only ever known him from school and i thought he would be so boring and bland but once i heard you talk about him with such passion i finally looked into the book of hours and my mind is blown!! for once in my life i'm grateful to know german and to be able to read this in the original!!
I started reading The Dark Interval because you recommended it in your 100 book recommendations video. My mom is very sick with stomach cancer and I have to say, this was the best book recommendation I have ever received. Thank you💕
Your videos feel like warmth and comfort on a chilly winter night. I rarely comment on RUclips but your channel is my retreating space after a long stressful day. Love you, Emma! ❤
I discovered Rilke by accident, I was looking for philosophy books in a bookstore. I then saw a Rilke’s expression on the cover of a book, his expression drew me in. I knew nothing about it, except for the title and his expression. I honestly read the book “letters to a young poet” without knowing who he was. Honestly one of the best books I have ever read.
it’s only now i have started to read him i’ve realised how rilke has appeared before in my life and i haven’t even noticed - majorly, it was you who first introduced me to rilke in depth (i knew of him, not read him). then, funnily enough, i was watching gilmore girls, and rory holds up a copy of rilkes letters to a younger poet. i ordered a pocket size the next day
Clara Parkes in her daily respite posts has shared Rilke’s quotes. Thank you for sharing your passion for Rainer Maria Rilke.
For many years I collected Rilke books. I have a rare book of letters to princess Maria.
The notebooks of Malti Reading that is like a paragraph is a lifetime...
It's the most challenging book to try to focus and not let your mind wander... Rilke will take you to these places...
Thank you for this video! I recently started reading Letters to a Young Poet as my first work of Rilke's and am absolutely loving it. This will be extremely helpful when moving on to reading more of his books.