Rainer Maria Rilke(1875 1926) is one of the greatest lyric German poets. Born in Prague, he published his first book of poems, "Leben und Lieber, "at age nineteen. He met Lou Salome, the talented and spirited daughter of a Russian army officer, who influenced him deeply. In 1902 he became a friend, and for a time the secretary, of Rodin, and it was during his twelve-year Paris residence that Rilke enjoyed his greatest poetic activity. In 1919 he went to Switzerland where he spent the last years of his life. It was there that he wrote his last two works, "Duino Elegies"(1923) and"The Sonnets to Orpheus"(1923)."