Rilke

American  

[ril-kuh] / ˈrɪl kə /

noun

1. Rainer Maria 1875–1926, Austrian poet, born in Prague.

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Rilke British  

/ ˈrɪlkə /

noun

1. Rainer Maria (ˈrainər maˈriːa). 1875–1926, Austro-German poet, born in Prague. Author of intense visionary lyrics, notably in the Duino Elegies (1922) and Sonnets to Orpheus (1923)

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Example Sentences

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote that “the highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

He pauses to recite poetry, be it Sufi or Rilke.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2025

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke once told a young writer that we shouldn’t try to eliminate uncertainty, but instead learn “to love the questions themselves.”

From Salon • Aug. 15, 2024

Here’s one entry in its entirety, in lines Rilke or Havel or Milosz would envy:

From New York Times • Jan. 11, 2023

In the poem entitled Pont Du Carrousel, written in Paris a few years later, Rilke has visioned the blind beggar aloof amid the fluctuating crowds of the metropolis.

From Poems by Rilke, Rainer Maria