To Rilke himself the Sonnets to Orpheus were perhaps the most mysterious in the way they came up and entrusted themselves to me, the most enigmatic dictation I have ever held through and achieved; the whole first part was written down in a single breathless act of obedience, between the 2nd and 5th of February, without one word being doubtful or having to be changed. With facing-page German. One of the literary masterpieces of the century, this translation is now presented with facing-page German.