The Essential Rilke

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Translation
Review: I thoroughly disagree with the reader from Pennsylvania. I can read German -- in fact, I teach German language and literature at the university level -- and I find not only that Kinnell does full justice to Rilke's language and imagery, but also that his translation itself constitutes excellent, readable poetry.

Rating:
Summary: Hews Nicely Close to the German
Review: Kinnell and Liebmann's translations are spare and honest, hewing closely to the German and intelligently handling the less easily translatable passages, of which there are many. This volume brings you closer to Rilke's original thought than others, such as Mitchell, whose tone at times might be closer to Rilke's but who strays too far from Rilke's actual words. I only wish they'd translated more of the poems!

Rating:
Summary: Close, but no cigar
Review: Kinnell is a good poet, but his translations do not exceed those that have preceded him - Mitchell, Snow, Young, Bly, Franz Wright. He lets the German dictate to him too much and doesn't assert his own poetic talent to the degree that we might have expected. A lackluster performance.