DUINO ELEGIES & THE SONNETS TO ORPHEUS: A DUAL-LANGUAGE EDITION

The gifts Mr. Mitchell brought to his earlier book he also brings to this one - an eye for a strong line; a sympathetic tact that allows him to supply a word from what is only suggested or to swell one of Rilkes almost subliminal, one-word metaphors into a whole English phrase; the ability to reproduce the tone of common speech in Rilke; a knack for ingeniously simple versions of certain crucial Rilkean terms; and the use of off-rhymes to solve the formal problems of translating these conjugated sonnets. At times, Mr. Mitchells versions actually enhance the original... This is a beautifully designed, elegant and spacious volume, and it is splendidly annotated. --Michael Hofmann, The New York Times Book Review