Rilke s book of hours is the invigorating vision of spiritual practice for the secular world, and a work that seems remarkably. Rainer maria rilkes the book of hours cambridge core. Rilke does not write of god or christianity as we see them around us today, but rather about a more primitive. The historiated initial shows the tortures of christ. The book of hours, written in three bursts between 1899 and 1903, is rilkes most formative work. A choice of manuscripts and bookbindings from the library of isabella stewart gardner. The annunciation, from a book of hours, 144045 master of the. The small format of the book presupposes a quiet, private devotion, as the. Inspired, rilke returned to germany and put down on paper what he felt were spontaneously received prayers. A beastly book of hours special collections utrecht university. Rilkes book of hours shares with the reader a new kind of intimacy with god, or the divinea reciprocal relationship between the divine and the ordinary in which god needs us as much as we need god. Book of hours by the master of zweder van culemborg kb.
Book of hours, use of rome the hours of joanna i of castile or the hours of joanna. The poems in the book of hours, written in the persona of a cloistered russian monk, were part of rilke s search for a way to express what he felt god was, but in macys workshop she read rilke even more broadly. While visiting russia in his twenties, rainer maria rilke, one of the twentieth century s greatest poets, was moved by a spirituality he encountered there. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Just thought id comment on your post as i thought you might be interested that ive released an album called widening circles. But he also had an eye for the symbolic meaning of the animals he painted.
Rainer maria rilke is arguably the most important modern germanlanguage poet. Shes found a template within his poetry for ecological and social activism, an activism that relies on our capacity for deep feeling to guide us toward a lifesustaining society. The collection was written between 1899 and 1903 in three parts, and first published in leipzig by insel verlag in april 1905. They are therefore referred to by a name that is derived from their work. Book of hours, rouen, france, early 16th century, ms m. His new poems, duino elegies, and sonnets to orpheus are pillars of 20thcentury poetry. Books of hours were the most popular book of the middle ages and renaissance. I first read rilke s book of hours a number of years ago, and just recently picked it up again. From the fourteenth to the midsixteenth century, more books of hours were made than any other type of book.
Master of the gardner hours active bruges, about 1450 1500. Book of hours by the master of zweder van culemborg koninklijke. Rilkes book of hours as portent and guide tricycle. This one was illuminated by two anonymous artists, the most accomplished of whom is known as the spitz master. Love poems to god rainer maria rilke, anita barrows, joanna macy on. I have become totally smitten by rilke and so the album features the english translation of a handful of the poems from the book of hours set to my compositions. The second major concept in the book of hours is rilke s apotheosis of art. The real theme of the book of hours, concluded mason, is the poet s own inner life, his struggles toward comprehension, and, above all his perils as a poet. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. The rothschild prayerbook, a book of hours, use of rome. Im not a deeply spiritual person, and im far from religious, but the imagery and emotion in these poems resonated with me immediately. The book of hours is a christian devotional book popular in the middle ages. Rilkes book of hours is the invigorating vision of spiritual practice for the secular world, and a work that seems remarkably prescient today, one hundred years after it was written.
1181 455 671 1034 1584 1497 581 555 897 578 871 954 742 1168 739 898 310 385 10 1454 1502 1 1198 6 1401 293 1044 78 1223 859 1452 78 706 1392 1248 1144 1414 48 633