Rainer Maria Rilke
Early life (1875–1896)

He was born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke in Prague, capital of Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now capital of the Czech Republic). His childhood and youth in Prague were not always happy. His father, Josef Rilke (1838–1906), found employment as a railway official after an unsuccessful military career. His mother, Sophie ("Phia") Entz (1851–1931), was from a well-to-do family in Prague, the Entz-Kinzelbergers, who lived at Herrengasse (Panská) 8, where René spent many of his early years. The relationship between Phia and her only son was coloured by her mourning for an earlier infant daughter who died within one week. During Rilke's early years, Phia acted as if she sought to recover the lost daughter by treating Rilke as if he were a girl. According to Rilke, he had to wear "fine clothes" and "was a plaything, like a big doll". His parents' marriage ended in 1884.

His parents enrolled the poetically and artistically talented youth in a military academy in Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria. He attended classes from 1886 until 1891, but left due to illness. He then moved to Linz, and entered a trade school. During this time he lived with Hans Drouot (publisher and owner of the printing and publishing company Jos. Feichtinger's Erben) at Graben 19 on the 3rd floor.

Expelled in May 1892, the 16-year-old returned to Prague, where, for three years, he was tutored for the university entrance exam, which he passed in 1895. He took classes in literature, art history, and philosophy in Prague, until 1896 when he left school and moved to Munich.
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