by
Translated by Jessie Lamont
With an Introduction by H.T.
New York
Tobias A. Wright
1918
Acknowledgment
To the Editors of Poetry--A magazine of Verse, and Poet Lore, the
translator is indebted for permission to reprint certain poems in this
book--also to the compilers of the following anthologies--Amphora II
edited by Thomas Bird Mosher--The Catholic Anthology of World Poetry
selected by Carl van Doren.
_Introduction:_
The Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke
_First Poems:_
Evening
Mary Virgin
_The Book of Pictures:_
Presaging
Autumn
Silent Hour
The Angels
Solitude
Kings in Legends
The Knight
The Boy
Initiation
The Neighbour
Song of the Statue
Maidens I
Maidens II
The Bride
Autumnal Day
Moonlight Night
In April
Memories of a Childhood
Death
The Ashantee
Remembrance
Music
Maiden Melancholy
Maidens at Confirmation
The Woman who Loves
Pont du Carrousel
Madness
Lament
Symbols
_New Poems:_
Early Apollo
The Tomb of a Young Girl
The Poet
The Panther
Growing Blind
The Spanish Dancer
Offering
Love Song
Archaic Torso of Apollo
_The Book of Hours:_
_The Book of a Monk's Life_
I Live my Life in Circles
Many have Painted Her
In Cassocks Clad
Thou Anxious One
I Love My Life's Dark Hours
_The Book of Pilgrimage_
By Day Thou Art The Legend and The Dream
All Those Who Seek Thee
In a House Was One
Extinguish My Eyes
In the Deep Nights
_The Book of Poverty and Death_
Her Mouth
Alone Thou Wanderest
A Watcher of Thy Spaces
[Greek: eisi gar oun, oi en tas phuchais kuousin]
Plato
The supreme problem of every age is that of finding its consummate
artistic expression. Before this problem every other remains of
secondary importance. History defines and directs its physical course,
science cooperates in the achievement of its material aims, but Art
alone gives to the age its spiritual physiognomy, its ultimate and
lasting expression.
The process of Art is on the one hand sensuous, the conception having
for its basis the fineness of organization of the senses; and on the
other hand it is severely scientific, the value of the creation being
dependent upon the craftsmanship, the mastery over the tool, the
technique.
Art, like Nature, its great and only reservoir for all time past and all
time to come, ever strives for elimination and selection. It is severe
and aristocratic in the application of its laws and impervious to appeal
to serve other than its own aims. Its purpose is the symbolization of
Life. In its sanctum there reigns the silence of vast accomplishment,
the serene, final, and imperturbable solitude which is the ultimate
criterion of all great things created.
To speak of Poetry is to speak of the most subtle, the most delicate,
and the most accurate instrument by which to measure Life.