Rainer Maria Rilke's The Book of Hours

Book excerpt: "The Book of hours, written in three bursts between 1899-1903, is Rilke's most formative work, covering a crucial period in his rapid ascent from fin-de-siecle epigone to distinctive modern voice. The poems are crucial documents of Rilke's development, from his tour around Russia with Lou Andreas-Salome, through his hasty marriage to Clara Westhoff in the artists' community of Worpswede, to his turn toward the urban modernity of Paris. Rilke assumes the persona of an artist-monk undertaking the Romantics' journey into the self, speaking to God as part transcendent deity, part needy neighbor. Echoes of his juvenile style persist, yet by the end of the book the influence of the sculptor Rodin is discernible in the distinctive idiom of urbanity, in the terminology of "things," and in Rilke's turn to the everyday world around him."--Jacket flap.