As chosen by the Poetry Programme, our Poem of the Week is ‘Der Panther/The Panther’ by Rainer Maria Rilke, read in the original German by Professor Joachim Fischer of the University of Limerick and in English by Sean O’Mahony. You can listen below:
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke was born in 1875 into a German-speaking family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and died in Switzerland in 1926.
Irish poet Seamus Hogan first got to know Rilke’s work when in France. Many years later, while doing German language classes in Balllydehob with teacher Ailin Becker, he suggested that the class should translate Rilke’s poem ‘Der Panther’ into English. That led to Seamus, his classmate, retired landscape architect Sean O’Mahony, and Ailin working together for three years and ultimately publishing ’30 Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke’ with The Eblana Press.
Seamus and Sean join Rick on the Poetry Programme this Saturday 22 October, at 7:30 pm on RTÉ Radio 1, along with Professor Joachim Fischer of the University of Limerick who gives a flavour of the original German. Also: Vona Groarke has two new books out, and a reading from the ‘All Through the Night’ anthology.
