I read a chunk of this on Aug and Dec last year. Then picked it up Aug 1 to read the Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus. Rilke was a romantic at heart, trying to stress the moment, the contact with now, with nature, with its temporariness, with awareness of death. He also adores the mystery of mythology. Also he‘s often just out there. My reading spiked when I last picked this up, my 1st book every morning. I miss that motivation.