The Book of Hours

Summary

Written at the turn of the twentieth century, The Book of Hours is one of the most significant works of modern German poetry. There has never been an English translation that preserved the tight poeticism and Christian mysticism of the original until now. In this long poem, the narrator-poet is a monk and icon painter desperately trying to see God in a way that his art can’t capture. Over three sections (The Book of Monkish Life, The Book of Pilgrimage, and The Book of Poverty & Death), Rilke takes the narrator on a journey from the pastoral lands of his monastery to the bustling and inhuman cities of the world on a quest to make sense of God's central mystery. A variety of images recur: building, trees (roots and fruits), ripening, ore, and what Rilke simply calls "the things". Through these motifs, the narrator seeks to understand God by exploring imagery that is the inverse of the usual Biblical symbols. What can we learn by thinking of God as darkness, as son, as poor neighbor, or as the rock that runs through the earth...? And, ultimately, what truly are poverty and death to the holy pilgrim?