by 
Mas
ANSWERS: 3
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Not particularly as I've never read anything by him. though lots of poets I like like him. And Don Paterson (a Scottish poet) has released a "version of" his Orpheus poems this year or last. I may pick something up by him.
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I like his writing. You can't much closer to the bones than this. Death Come thou, thou last one, whom I recognize, unbearable pain throughout this body's fabric: as I in my spirit burned, see, I now burn in thee: the wood that long resisted the advancing flames which thou kept flaring, I now am nourishinig and burn in thee. My gentle and mild being through thy ruthless fury has turned into a raging hell that is not from here. Quite pure, quite free of future planning, I mounted the tangled funeral pyre built for my suffering, so sure of nothing more to buy for future needs, while in my heart the stored reserves kept silent. Is it still I, who there past all recognition burn? Memories I do not seize and bring inside. O life! O living! O to be outside! And I in flames. And no one here who knows me. Written in December 1926, this poem was the last entry in Rilke's notebook, less than two weeks before his death at age 51.
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he is one of my favorite poets. "letters to a young poet" altered the state of my life. lots of people think he is incredibly depressing, i don't. i find his poetry to be drenched in intensity and love and life. "So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever known, if a restiveness, like light and cloud shadow passes over your hands and over all that you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall"
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