Just learn german

Snow is great. His translation does not try very hard to keep Rilke's syntax or prosody, but what he comes up with retains all of Rilke's concepts and emotions. I doubt that Rilke would write in English the way Snow does, but just looking at the stuff one can tell that all the soul is there. It's remarkable really. I actually marvel at his translations from time to time and have started basing my own poetry on how his translations turn out.

do you think people who can read the original would read the translations? please...

>>8277342
I don't know much about Snow, but Stephen Mitchell is the translator most people tout as the premier English interpreter of Rilke. The Mitchell version is also a bilingual edition.

>>8277342
whats so special about Rilke?

>>8278466
He was a guy, yet his middle name was "Maria".

>>8278387
Sold.

>>8278466
He is an interesting fusion of romantic and modernist notions. His early poetry is incredibly pining and mystic, but he transforms and his later work delves into what become distinctly modernist techniques. He goes from speaking of god in lofty terms and writing almost exclusively "I" poems to analyzing objects and scenes without putting himself in his work. This movement of his is also reflected in the mythology he builds throughout his poetry, which developed from his consistent use of symbols and his ability to imbue seemingly arbitrary scenes with interpretive weight. His stuff is rich with a personal epistemology and ontology, which is why Heidegger enjoyed him so much.

Unfortunately he's been appropriated by Khalil Gibran style mystics, but he's better than that.

>>8278421
I sometimes read the translation of a book I really liked in another one of the languages I know just to see how the translator interpreted certain passages. I don't know what you'd call that, but I find it instructive to the formation of my writing style.