Our third Rilke seminar at the Aquinas academy began by looking at the following proposition and then at the same time pondering the relationship between this and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146. (click to view). Both Rilke and Shakespeare indicate that living in the face of death can indeed be a sober annihilation of all that is false and dishonest. 
We then turned to have a close look at Rilke’s letter to his polish publisher which gives a wonderful clue to Rilke’s intentions for his whole Duino Elegy series, and especially his understanding of how death is part of our life. Here is the document, together with all the questions that unfolded during our discussion:
Here is the audio of how our discussion unfolded and this is followed by the visual images used to support our discussion:
Click here to view a video of a german tourist walking on the Rilke Walk around this Duino Castle. He is reciting this wonderful poem which I have translated in the audio recording of our session above.
Enjoy
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Summer 2023 