I have all the appreciation and respect for the editor of this book. However, the poetry did nothing for me. It felt dull and lifeless. Totally a miss for me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this poetry collection. This is my honest review.

I haven't read any of the works of Rainer Maria Rilke prior to this, but his name was one I was familiar with, and I had been meaning to get to him. I am glad that this little volume helped me to do so. His poetry is beautiful, and I enjoyed how the focus of this collection was on the night.

I think that given the year we have had, there are certain feelings relayed in these poems that we can relate to today, those of isolation and loneliness. These are the things that the mind can grapple with at night before you drift off to sleep.

That being said, there are two other large sections in the book that I feel overshadow his poetry. One is an introduction that gives copious information about the poems, and the other is a section that contains information about the poet. I feel that the weight of these sections detracted from the poetry itself and was a lot to wade through. I would have liked for there to be less to the introduction so the reader could have their own thoughts about the collection without being frontloaded.

I’m quite disappointed by this reading. The poems didn’t make me feel a thing and the wording felt awkward and confusing at times. It could be the translation or simply the original vocabulary, Anyway, I expected to like this more.

I really wanted to like this collection, but I didn’t enjoy it much. I think this is one of those books where you either love it or you don’t. Many of the poems were descriptive which is great. Other than that, the collection didn’t grab my attention like I thought it would.

Poems to Night is a collection of Rainer Maria Rilke's work well worth considering, enjoying, and sharing with others. Rilke is masterful and these poems are evidence a great talent. An ideal gift for poetry lovers.

Rilke delves into familiar existential themes, loneliness and longing in this collection of poems, highlighting the universal experience of melancholy through the personal.

(Based on ARC). Hard to believe this, most of this anyhow, hadn’t been translated into English until now. Started in the end of 1913, Rilke’s Poems to Night, takes the reader through familiar existential themes, pain, loneliness, longing in his simple, yet complex, style.

It’s a short read at 90-ish pages, but found myself rereading much of it a second time, jumping here and there, as this each poem collection has the commonality of night, each poem can be read alone or can be read as a small piece of the whole.

Also contains drafts of many of the poems as well as other night poems.

Well worth the read.

"...almost organic indecipherability…" I do like a book whose introduction provides the review. Yes, academics of this kind of interminable dross will love the fact these poems (for which read: effectless assemblings of words for zero benefit) are here, all present and correct in English for the first time, and added to by works that might have been addenda to them at one point. But coming to this with my Average Commuter Reader's cap on, this was a waste of time. No offence to you if this is your kind of thing, but rest assured you are so thin on the ground in number I have to point out the great number of people thinking about this book will dislike it.

Quick easy read. The cover is beautiful and I enjoyed some of the poems. I expected them to be more about the night than they were but overall was an ok book.

A gorgeous collection of poems that are perfect for reading at night while looking at the moon. I absolutely had a great time reading these gorgeous poems. All of them are just haunting and mystical. If you love poetry then I would highly recommend this collection of never before translated poems from the great Rainer Maria Rilke.

*Thanks Netgalley and Pushkin Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*