Duino Elegies

Long dissatisfied with the highly romanic and often obscure translations in English of Rilke's great poem cycle, brother and sister Will and Mary C. Crichton determined to work toward a translation that would be as straightforward and transparent, yet as lyrically beautiful, as Rilke's German original. Working over the years, the Crichtons have produced a work in English worthy of Rilke's poetic contribution, which he began in Duino near Trieste beginning in 1912 and completed in Switzerland in 1922. Rilke considered this work one of his greatest achievements.

Will Crichton, who recently died, lived in Toronto where he was a professor of philosophy; Mary C. Crichton lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

See the PIP Biography of this author