Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) is considered one of the great poets of the twentieth century. His two most famous verse sequences are the Sonnets to Orpheus and the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

Published in VQR

• Christ’s Descent Into Hell, Autumn 1982