This four-week course examines Rilke’s relationship with three luminous women whose lives were shaped by his presence. The first, Lou Andreas-Salome, was a lifelong friend and mentor, inspiring his poetry and evoking a correspondence that charts the power of poetry in shaping life. The last two never met him directly but were profoundly shaped by his influence: Etty Hillesum found his writings as a bulwark and guide during the last two turbulent years of her short life; Marina Tsvetaeva came to know him through an intense correspondence during Rilke’s final year of life, writing a memorable elegy for him shortly after his death in 1926. Join us as we probe Rilke’s writings and his soul-companioning of these women as a model for our lives. Instructor Mark S. Burrows is a poet, translator, and scholar. He is an award-winning translator of Rilke’s poetry and widely recognized as one of the poet’s leading interpreters. A popular teacher, lecturer and retreat leader across the US and internationally, his Rilke publications include Rilke’s Prayers of a Young Poet (The Book of Hours), a recent translation of his Sonnets to Orpheus (2024), and a book co-authored with Stephanie Dowrick which explores Rilke’s poetic vision as a guide for life: You Are the Future: Living the Questions with Rainer Maria Rilke (2024). Mark lives and writes in Camden. www.soul-in-sight.org