Gerhard Meier was born in 1917. Spending six months in a sanatorium for tuberculosis made him decide to leave his job at a lamp factory and devote himself exclusively to writing. He produced a steady stream of poetry and fiction thereafter, dying in 2008 at the age of 91. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is considered one of the greatest poets who ever wrote in the German language. His most famous works are Sonnets to Orpheus, The Duino Elegies, Letters to a Young Poet, and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. His collected work is comprised of hundreds of other poems, essays, plays, and stories.

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