Duineser Elegien. Leipzig 1923

Inhalt

We have a marvelous, almost legendary, image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rilke was staying at a castle (Duino) on the sea near Trieste. One morning he walked out on the battlements and climbed down to where the rocks dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the wind, which was blowing with great force, Rilke seemed to hear a Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen ? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?).