Still viewed as one of the classics of twentieth-century poetry, Rilke’s cycle

[

] remains a deeply stirring invitation to ponder the nature of our human existence. Though Rilke had, in the eyes of most scholars, already achieved full poetic mastery with his

of 1907, in this cycle he probes more deeply into many of the mysteries touched on in his earlier work.

During his 1912 visit to Duino, the castle of his royal patron Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis overlooking the Gulf of Trieste, he began writing the cycle and completed the first and second elegies by the end of February of that year. But this burst of inspiration was not to last. He did complete the third elegy in Paris the following year, but further progress was impeded by the

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Citation: Kovach, Thomas A.. "Duineser Elegien". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 January 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11482, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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