Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was an Austrian poet who wrote in German and French and is regarded as one of the major poets of literary modernism. After military schooling, he studied literature, art history, and philosophy in Prague, Munich, and Berlin. His best-known works include The Book of Hours, New Poems, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, and the Duino Elegies. In 1902, Rilke went to Paris, where he worked for a time as private secretary to the sculptor Auguste Rodin. In addition to his own poetry, he translated works by Paul Verlaine, André Gide, and Paul Valéry from French.