Review: 'Poems to Night' by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. Will Stone

 While I haven't consistently read Rainer Maria Rilke I have encountered his poems and other writings frequently. I will see snippets of it here or there and it always ends up hitting close to home. So I jumped at the chance to get into his poetry proper, to see how they connected to each other and to, hopefully, gain  a clearer understanding of Rilke as a poet.  Also, look at that cover, how am I supposed to resist that. Thanks to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 02/03/2021
Publisher: Pushkin Press

A collection of haunting, mystical poems of the night by the great Rainer Maria Rilke - most of which have never before been translated into English

One night I held between my hands
your face. The moon fell upon it.

In 1916, Rainer Maria Rilke presented the writer Rudolf Kassner with a notebook, containing twenty-two poems, meticulously copied out in his own hand, which bore the title "Poems to Night." This cycle of poems which came about in an almost clandestine manner, are now thought to represent one of the key stages of this master poet's development.

Never before translated into English, this collection brings together all Rilke's significant night poems in one volume.

In his introduction, Will Stone tries to place these poems in the wider oeuvre of Rilke's poetry. Written around the same time as his Duino Elegies, these poems are taken from a notebook gifted to Rudolf Kassner. Late night is the perfect time for this, when everything is dark and quiet and you can just be and ponder without interruptions. For me, night has always been calmer than day. Moonlight and starlight are infinitely preferable to sunlight. Not to quote The Hobbit movies but for me starlight is memory and is precious, and night allows me to ponder and consider in the way the day doesn't. Just as night allows one the freedom to roam, so Rilke's poems cover a variety of themes and ideas, lingering on them but not belabouring them. As Stone argues, these poems feel like 'a clandestine text, and resist any assured interpretation'. Rilke isn't aiming towards one message or one theme. Rather, Poems to Night roam freely but all carry an equal emotional weight. There is a desire for connection, but also a desire to live freely and to not be constrained. The below line is an example of that:

'Overflowing skies of squandered stars splendour over grievance. Rather than into pillows, weep upwards.'

Just like midnight ponderings, Rilke's thoughts and poems leap wildly. They are not restricted to specific rhymes or rhythms but rather speak strongly to the soul. They are not long and ponderous, strangled in metaphors but rather flow smoothly. Will Stone surely did an excellent job translating this flow to retain Rilke's seeming effortlessness and inspiration. Stone's introduction provides an excellent background to Rilke's creative process and the circumstances in which this collection came into existence, namely Rilke's displacement due to WWI. It explains the lack of permanence and the evanescence of night that dominates the poems. Although the poems aren't easy to understand at first glance and although they may require some perseverance and patience, they are stunning once you let them work on you. 

I give this collection...

4 Universes!

Rilke's Poems to Night are beautiful and presented beautifully in this edition. Stone's translation and introduction are illuminating and anyone with a love for poetry will greatly enjoy this.