In this blog post, we’ll explore Rainer Maria Rilke’s life and literary career, as well as provide commentary on his major works, organized chronologically and by title.
Rilke’s Life and Literature
Rainer Maria Rilke was born on December 4, 1875, in Prague. At the time, Prague was the center of German-ruled Bohemia, and Rilke’s family experienced an early rift due to the personality differences between his father, Josef, and his mother, Sophia. His father, after serving in the military, led an unremarkable life working for a railroad company, while his mother, from a family of former Imperial Councilors, was sociable and hedonistic. Due to these differences in temperament, the couple divorced in 1884, when Rilke was nine years old.
As a child, Rilke was of frail constitution, and in 1886, at the age of 11, he entered the Army Cadet School in Sankt Pölten at his father’s insistence. He later transferred to the Military Academy in Merisch-Weißkirchen in 1890, but was expelled in 1891 because the rigid military education did not suit his personality. That fall, he enrolled in the Commercial College in Linz but was expelled due to personal circumstances; it was during this period that he began writing.
With the help of his uncle, he completed his high school education and enrolled at Charles University in Prague in 1895, where he took courses in art history, literary history, history, and philosophy. In 1894, he published his first collection of poems, ‘Life and Song’, which contained poems inspired by his romantic relationship with Valery von David-Rönfeldt. Although the love poems of that time were sentimental and passionate, Rilke later felt embarrassed by them and did not include them in his subsequent collections.
In 1896, he moved to Munich and enrolled at the University of Munich, where he was first exposed to the atmosphere of a major city and the literary scene, and expanded his circle of writers and artists. Around this time, he published his second poetry collection, ‘Offerings to the Departed’, and the prose collection ‘Beekwarten’. His time in Munich was a crucial period for Rilke’s literary development.
In May 1897, he met Lou Andreas-Salomé, who was once known as Nietzsche’s lover. Rilke and Lou shared a passionate romantic relationship, which, even after it ended, evolved into an intellectual and emotional friendship that lasted a lifetime. Lou’s influence played a major role in Rilke’s spiritual growth.
Two trips to Russia during his youth (in 1899 and 1900) were decisive experiences that nurtured Rilke’s poetic individuality. On the first trip, he was accompanied by Lou and her husband; on the second, he traveled with Lou alone. On both occasions, he had the opportunity to meet Tolstoy, and amidst Russia’s nature, customs, and people, he gained deep insights into God and existence. These experiences laid the foundation for him to move beyond his imitative phase and establish his own unique poetic world.
Based on his Russian experiences, he published the poetry collection ‘For My Festival’ and the short story collection ‘Tales of a Beloved God’, and completed the first part of his collection of devotional poems, ‘The Book of Monastic Life’. ‘For My Festival’ is a work that moves beyond the imitative tendencies of his earlier nature poetry; it reveals the poet’s fundamental sensibility as expressed through nature, a sensibility that leaps forward with even greater intensity and individuality in ‘Book of Monastic Life’.
After his trip to Russia, Rilke visited the artists’ colony of Worpswede in northern Germany, where, through the young painter Heinrich Vogel, he met Paula Becker and the sculptor Clara Westhoff. In 1901, Rilke married Clara Westhoff and established a new home in Westerwede, near Worpswede.
After his marriage, Rilke wrote Part 2 of ‘The Book of Prayers’, ‘The Book of Pilgrimage’, and ‘The Book of Images’. In ‘The Book of Pilgrimage’, the inner experiences he gained in Russia merge with his peaceful rural life, manifesting as a ceaseless exploration of inner depth, while ‘The Book of Images’ reveals early clues that would later lead to ‘The New Poems’.
His wife, Clara, was a student of Rodin, and Rilke took a keen interest in Rodin’s sculptural thinking and his “Composition with Water.” To gain a deeper understanding of Rodin’s art, he traveled to Paris in 1902, met Rodin in person, and became deeply immersed in his work. He even worked briefly as Rodin’s secretary, and Rodin taught Rilke to eliminate cheap lyricism and to thoroughly understand nature in order to recreate it. This encounter had a decisive influence on his mid-career work.
The representative works of his mid-career period, produced under Rodin’s influence, are ‘New Poems’ and ‘Supplement to New Poems’; these collections demonstrate a consistent evolution in both form and style. The sentimental lyricism of his youth recedes, giving way to objective depictions of botanical and zoological gardens, street scenes, travels, ancient temples, Greek mythology, biblical themes, and ancient sculpture. Nevertheless, the poet’s intense inner lyricism remains latent, and the works of this period lay the expressive groundwork for what would later become ‘The Duino Elegies’.
‘The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge’ holds special significance as Rilke’s only full-length novel. He devoted six years to it, beginning to write in Rome in 1904 and completing it in Leipzig in 1910. Rather than following a conventional plot, the work takes the form of a collection of the protagonist Malte’s diary entries, depicting themes that Rilke contemplated throughout his life—such as love, death, illness, anxiety, loneliness, and the question of God—with inner richness and delicate prose. Although it deals with death and illness, it gazes into the very essence of these phenomena through clear observation rather than a decadent perspective.
After completing the novel, Rilke’s life shifted once again toward the world of love and friendship. Around the time ‘The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge’ was completed, he met Margravine Marie von Thurn und Taxis through an introduction by Rudolf Kassner; she became a motherly figure and a source of both spiritual and material support, providing Rilke with significant assistance during his final years.
A four-month journey through North Africa and his experiences in Egypt, beginning in late 1910, broadened his horizons and later served as the inspiration for the ‘Duino Elegies’. In January 1912, when Rilke visited Duino Castle at the invitation of the Marquise von Thurn und Taxis, he was inspired by a completely new perspective and wrote the first and second elegies in one go, while also beginning part of the tenth elegy. This event marked a decisive turning point that led to the “Duino Elegies.”
From February 1912 to February 1913, Rilke traveled through Spain, where he was deeply moved by the paintings of El Greco; this journey provided additional inspiration for the ‘Duino Elegies’. He subsequently completed some of the elegies in Paris and Italy, but the outbreak of World War I in July 1914 severely disrupted his work and daily life.
In Paris in 1914, he shared a passionate love affair with a female pianist, Magda von Hattingen (whom he called “Benvenuta”), through an intense exchange of letters; however, they eventually parted ways due to mutual concerns about the risks of living together. The war took a heavy toll on Rilke, both physically and mentally, and in 1916, he served in the Austrian Army. Despite his frail constitution, he endured the hardships of military service and, with the help of his comrades, was able to be discharged in June 1916.
During the war, Rilke found solace in several people, including the painter Lou Albert Lazar, but he also suffered the pain of seeing his property left behind in Paris confiscated as enemy property and put up for auction. However, thanks to the efforts of friends such as Stefan Zweig, Romain Rolland, and André Gide, he was able to recover part of his property. After leaving Munich for Zurich in 1919, he gradually decided not to return to Germany and remained in Switzerland.
After passing through Berg Castle in 1920, Rilke discovered Muissot Castle in the Valais region in 1921 and settled there. Muissot Castle was a secluded fortress with a surviving medieval tower; life there lacked electricity and running water, but it was in this solitary environment that he finally, in 1922, broke through the long-standing creative block that had held him back. That winter and early the following year, he completed the 7th, 8th, and 5th Elegies all at once, and also finished the previously unfinished Elegies. Furthermore, the 55 “Sonnets to Orpheus” poured forth at an astonishing pace.
The “Duino Elegies” and “Sonnets to Orpheus,” completed during this period, are masterpieces that distill and reveal Rilke’s fundamental philosophy. Themes such as impermanence, love, death, inner desolation, human destiny, the praise of heroes, an ode to life, and the “open world” leave a powerful impression on the reader through his heightened German prose.
In his later years, Rilke expressed deep admiration for the French poet Paul Valéry, translating his works and even attempting to write poetry in French himself. Encouraged by Valéry, some of his French poems were even published in magazines. His late-life romance with Mrs. Baladina Klossowska brought him comfort but also caused conflict and suffering as he struggled to balance his creative work with his love life.
In early October 1926, while picking roses in the garden of Château de Muzot, a thorn lodged in his left finger became infected and developed into symptoms of leukemia. Physically and mentally exhausted, he succumbed to his illness and passed away at the age of 51 at 5:00 a.m. on December 29, 1926, at the Valmont Sanatorium. In accordance with his will, his remains were interred in the cemetery in La Longue.
Work Commentary
“Letters to a Young Poet” is particularly well-suited as an introduction to Rilke.
In this book, he directly addresses his major themes—childhood memories, solitude, anxiety, love, sexuality, and motherhood—which form the foundational themes of Rilke’s literature. Those aspiring to pursue literature and the arts, as well as readers seeking to reflect seriously on life, can gain a deep understanding through this book of the challenges inherent in literary creation, the artistic life, solitude, and love, and what can be learned from them.
‘Letters to a Young Woman’ consists of Rilke’s replies to personal letters seeking advice from Mrs. Liza Heise. While the prose and content may be somewhat challenging, making it difficult for young readers to approach at first, a careful reading reveals that this work beautifully illustrates the true nature of friendship and human solidarity.
