The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke was born in 1875 in Prague. He studied literature, art history and philosophy in both Munich and Prague, and is often considered one of the German language's greatest 20th century poets. His two most famous verse sequences are the Sonnets to Orpheus and the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He died in 1926 in Switzerland after suffering from undiagnosed, chronic acute leukemia during his final months.

Stephen Mitchell was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and studied at Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University. Considered one of the preeminent translators of his generation, he has translated many classic texts, including Gilgamesh, The Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, and The Book of Job. For more information, visit stephenmitchellbooks.com.