Change Your Life

"Crucefix's translation will have, and keep, a place on my shelves where all the poetry lives." - Philip Pullman

A new selection and translation, by an acclaimed poet, of Rilke's most essential work - the perfect gift for the poetry lover in your life

In dazzling new translations of 142 poems by the acclaimed Martyn Crucefix, Rilke beguiles with fresh insight and mystery.

Rainer Maria Rilke developed one of the most singular poetic styles of the twentieth century. Visionary yet always anchored in the real world, his poems give profound expression to fundamental questions of love and death, of the chaos of the modern world as well as the spiritual consolation of art and nature.

Change Your Life draws from across Rilke's career to offer a comprehensive view of his most essential poetry, featuring major selections from the great Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus alongside less frequently anthologised work.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is considered one of the greatest German-language writers to have ever lived. He is best known for his Duino Elegies, Sonnets to Orpheus, and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Translator: Martyn Crucefix (born 1956 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire) is a British poet, translator and reviewer. He is the author of twelve original collections of poetry, most recently Cargo of Limbs (Hercules Editions, 2019; photographs by Amel Alzakout). He is the recipient of several prizes, including an Eric Gregory award and the Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize for his translations of the poems of Peter Huchel. He is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at The British Library.