Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as a significant writer in the German language. His work is viewed by critics and scholars as possessing undertones of mysticism, exploring themes of subjective experience and disbelief. His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry and several volumes of correspondence.
While Rilke is best known for his contributions to German literature, he also wrote in French. Among English-language readers, his best-known works include two poetry collections: Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus , a semi-autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge , and a collection of ten letters published posthumously Letters to a Young Poet .
