(no subject)

[arliss]

Letters to a Young Poet

by Ranier Maria Rilke

translation by M.D. Herter Norton

revised edition

copyright 1934 by W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.
renewed 1962 by M.D. Herter Norton
revised edition copyright 1954 by
W. W. Norton & Co., Inc.


Letter Eight

Borgeby gard, Fladie, Sweden
August 12, 1904

(excerpt)

How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.


So you must not be frightened [dear Mr. Kappus] if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud-shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall.

Comments

[embroiderama]

Oh wow, I used to read that book constantly around the end of high school--in fact I still have my paperback copy, heavily marked up with purple highlighter. This bit is so gorgeous, it just me all teary.

[fufaraw]

I know! It's possibly my favorite bit, too. But it must be *this* edition. Any and all of the others, while they grasp the essence of the meaning, lack the cadence and poetry of this precise selection of words.

[embroiderama]

So I just had to go crawling around on the floor--the MMPs live at the bottom of the bookcases--and that is indeed the translation I have. And the first paragraph up there was highlighted but not the second. Reading it now, 20 years later, I would definitely highlight the second one, but that particular letter was heavily highlighted.

[fufaraw]

I love rediscovering things that once meant so much--perceiving them from a different angle of experience and finding them still good, though somewhat altered, or expanded, in meaning.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me of this book. Although I have no business ordering anything right now - it will have to be moved - it seems as though your message here was directed personally to ME. I ordered it, this translation, from Amazon as a New Year's present to myself.

[fufaraw]

May it set the course for a good New Year for you!