The Life of Mary

Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.6

Word count: 15K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Das Marien-Leben by Rainer Maria RilkeAuthor: Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Jul 1, 2012

Editor's review

Rilke's Das Marien-Leben is a cycle of poems tracing the life of the Virgin Mary; the original German title is Das Marien-Leben. Rather than writing a theological treatise, the poet retells scenes such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the sorrow at the foot of the Cross in spare lyrical strokes, turning religious narrative into felt inner experience. Its value lies in the extreme concision of the language and the restraint of its imagery: the sentences are short, much is left unsaid, yet the emotion advances layer by layer, so that reading it brings a quiet shock. For Chinese readers this is a text suited to slow reading and repeated recitation; it can serve both as a model for learning the language of German poetry and as a window onto Rilke's mid-period style. One need not rush to seek doctrine while reading, but should attend to how the poet carries transcendent experience in everyday detail. It is best read poem by poem in quiet hours, with a German-Chinese facing text or a reliable translation at hand, to appreciate its sound and rhythm more fully.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Lovers of German literature who wish to read Rilke's mid-period poetry closely
Students learning German who want to sharpen their feel for the language and literary appreciation through poetry
Readers interested in religious poetry who are willing to read it as literature rather than doctrine
Literary readers who enjoy short poem cycles and are accustomed to slow, annotative reading

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a systematic account of Mariology or Catholic theology
Readers who prefer long novels with continuous plots and complete narratives
Readers with no German who are unwilling to consult a translation alongside the text
Readers who read fast and are used to getting through large amounts of material in one sitting

Reading tips

Read the poems in the order of the cycle, each twice: the first time for rhythm, the second for imagery and diction.
Prepare a German-Chinese facing text; read the German first, then compare with the translation and mark where your understanding went astray.
After each group of poems, write two or three sentences about the image that moved you most, and return to these notes later.
Use a recording or read aloud yourself to feel the sound and pauses of Rilke's verse.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I understand this collection without a religious background?

Yes. Rilke's approach leans on psychological and emotional experience rather than doctrinal exposition. Even readers unfamiliar with the religious tradition can enter the text through universal experiences such as the mother-son bond, parting, and grief. For greater depth, you may briefly acquaint yourself with the basic narratives of the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Cross beforehand, but this is not a prerequisite for reading.

This is the original German; what language level does it require?

The book is in the original German. Readers with intermediate German reading ability and a grasp of basic vocabulary and grammar can attempt it; Rilke's syntax is not especially complex, but his diction is compressed and his imagery leaps, so comprehension remains difficult. Reading alongside a reliable Chinese translation is recommended: grasp the overall meaning first, then return to the German to savour the language.

Should the cycle be read in order, or can I skip around?

Read it through in order first, since the cycle broadly follows the line of the Virgin's life and sequential reading lets you feel the layers of emotional development. After that you can revisit poems in any order you like, reciting your favourites repeatedly. If time is short, you might begin with the Nativity and the scene at the foot of the Cross, then extend to the whole.

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About the author

Rilke, Rainer Maria, 1875-1926 Author

Rilke, Rainer Maria (1875–1926) is one of the most influential poets in German-language literature. Publicly available information is limited, and details of his life should not be overstated. Judging from the thirteen works held in the collection, his writing spans poetry, prose and essays on art: Neue Gedichte and its sequel Der Neuen Gedichte: Anderer Teil are known for their distilled imagery and the "thing poem" approach, drawing existential experience from concrete objects; Das Stunden-Buch and Das Marien-Leben show a strong religious and meditative character; Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge portrays urban loneliness and perception through fragmentary narration; and Auguste Rodin reflects his close observation of the visual arts. His delicate, symbolic language has had a lasting influence on modern poetry in Chinese and on the German poetic tradition.