Rilke

An incisive and intimate account of the life and work of the great poet Rilke, exploring the rich interior world he created in his poetry. When Rilke died in 1926, his reputation as a great poet seemed secure. But as the tide of the critical avant-garde turned, he was increasingly dismissed as apolitical, as too inward. Lesley Chamberlain uses this charge as the starting point from which to explore the expansiveness of the inner world Rilke created in his poetry. Weaving together searching insights on Rilke’s life, work and reception, Chamberlain casts Rilke’s inwardness as a profound response to a world that seemed ever more lacking in spirituality.