Childhood
Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Childhood” is included in
his collection Das Buch der Bilder, first published
in 1902. Various writers have translated the vol-
ume as “The Book of Images” or “The Book of
Pictures.” The poem can also be found in Robert
Bly’s collection of translations, Selected Poems of
Rainer Maria Rilke.The Book of Imageswas pub-
lished just after The Book of Hoursand just before
New Poemsand marks a shift in Rilke’s poetic de-
velopment toward more imagistic, slightly less sen-
timental verse. Written in thirty-three lines of
rhymed iambic pentameter verse and fit into four
irregular stanzas, “Childhood” addresses loneliness
and the passage of time, typical subjects for Rilke,
who spent his life attempting to describe the effects
of time’s onslaught. Rilke wrote a number of po-
ems about childhood, including “Duration of Child-
hood” and “The Child.” All of these poems express
feelings of wonder and bafflement and grapple with
the puzzle of human existence. Childhood was a
difficult time for Rilke. He was an effeminate and
fragile child, and not at all cut out for the military
schools to which his father sent him. Many of the
images of childhood in his poems are dramatiza-
tions of his own memories.Author Biography
Born December 4, 1875, in Prague, Austria, Rene
Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke was theRainer Maria Rilke
1902
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