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Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke,

Reginald Snell (Translator),

Franz Xaver Kappus (Introduction)

4.30 · Rating details · 56,850 ratings · 4,514 reviews

In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value. The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters—an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry. The ten letters reproduced here were written during ...more

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Paperback, 80 pages

Published May 8th 2002 by Dover Publications (first published 1929)

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Aug 25, 2012 s.penkevich rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone who desires to write

Recommended to s.penkevich by: Rakhi Dalal

Shelves: the_write_mind

‘Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.’

Rainer Maria Rilke puts forth the question ‘must I write?’ in these letters from the great poet to the unknown Mr. Kappus. ‘Dig into yourself for a deep answer,’ he tells the young poet, ‘and if this answer rights out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must”, then build your life in accordance with this necessity.’ Letters To A Young Poet, written between 1903-08, contains some of the mo ‘Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows.’

Rainer Maria Rilke puts forth the question ‘must I write?’ in these letters from the great poet to the unknown Mr. Kappus. ‘Dig into yourself for a deep answer,’ he tells the young poet, ‘and if this answer rights out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must”, then build your life in accordance with this necessity.’ Letters To A Young Poet, written between 1903-08, contains some of the most passionately moving words of encouragement and examination into the life of an artist. Rilke advises that ‘a work of art is good if it has risen out of necessity’, that they must feel they ‘would have to die if you were forbidden to write.’ From there, he instructs towards the soul-searching life of solitude which best cultivates the artists gift. With powerful prose that often reaches the same sublime peaks found in his poetry, these magnanimous, heart-felt letters are some the most empowering words of wisdom into undertaking of the arts as well as an impressive portrait of Rilke himself.

It is difficult to accurately explain the powers of transcendence contained in these letters. What is especially difficult is to do so in the realm of reviewing, a sort of critique that bastardizes the original message by having it be received tainted from my amateur perspective as it passes through me¹, as Rilke himself cautions against reading any sort of literary criticism, positive or negative in his very first letter.

’Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren’t all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experience is unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.

While, as Rilke point out, the ethereal joys brought about in me while reading this are ineffable, I would still like to take a few moments of your time to discuss how beautiful these letters are. It is a sort of minor-key beauty, spending much time navigating through the implications of solitude and painful soul-searching, yet it elevates the heart to such high levels and is sure to make anyone reach for a pen in order to try their own hand at poetry.

‘We know little, but that we must trust in what is difficult is a certainty that will never abandon us,’ Rilke writes. Constantly he tries to impress upon the young poet that the road to greatness is a difficult, lonely path, and that any meandering towards what is easy is destined to lead to failure or mediocrity. ‘It is good to be solitary, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult must be one more reason for us to do it.’ In the Bukowski poem How to be a Good Writer, he examines the life of those he considers great and asks :

remember the old dogs
who fought so well:
Hemingway, Celine, Dostoevsky, Hamsun.
If you think they didn't go crazy
in tiny rooms
just like you're doing now
without women
without food
without hope
then you're not ready.

This is merely a more blunt and coarse explanation of Rilke’s own sentiments. While it may seem a frightening truth, that we must always take the hard road, and that we must seek solitude in ourselves to mine the gold buried within us, that we may reach a point of near-madness, he presents it as such a beautiful gift, a place of inner turmoil that is bliss to the writer because it is how language is able to take root in our souls and grow.

’What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours – that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child, when the grownups walked around involved with matters that seemed large and important because they looked so busy and because you didn’t understand a thing about what they were doing.’

Rilke advises that childhood is one of the richest places to seek ourselves and our inspirations. Not only to call forth our dusty memories and let language polish and remold them into something remarkable, but to use a childlike ‘not-understanding’ to best examine the world.

‘Why should you want to give up a child’s wise not-understanding in exchange for defensiveness and scorn, since not-understanding is, after all, a way of being alone, whereas defensiveness and scorn are a participation in precisely what, by these means, you want to separate yourself from.

What really stood out to me about Rilke was his utter humbleness. Rilke responds to Kappus as if Kappus were the most important person in the world, and he begins each letter with an honest apology for the delay in his responses. Rilke remains ever humble in his words, and though he offers brilliant, shining insights, suggestions and long investigations on a variety of topics beyond writing (God, love – especially his distaste for those who mistake lust for love and how it damages the artistic heart, Rome, paintings, etc.), he never asserts himself as anything but a man with no answers, only direction. He reminds Kappus ‘Don’t think the person who is trying to comfort you now lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes give you pleasure. His life has much trouble and sadness…’. We all face our anxieties day by day, and even those we look up and even idolize were never able to reach perfection. We are all human, and Rilke manages to both send us reaching for the heavens while still remaining firmly grounded here on the Earth.

This is a fantastic short collection for anyone with any interest in writing. It is one of the most beautifully empowering books I have ever read and reminds the reader of the mindset they must accept in order to let the arts flourish in the soil of their souls. Whatever the topic he discusses, it is wholly pleasant to be immersed in the flow of his writing - each word is a warm embrace. While the letters are intended for Mr. Kappus alone, and his side of the conversation is missing, the message is universal. From the man who wrote some of the finest poetry of the 20th century, this book should be read by everyone before they pick up a pen to write (the same goes for Sorrentino’s Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things, but that is a discussion for another time). I’m surprised this isn’t required reading in all freshman college literature courses. This is truly a gift of writing, it sustained a smile across by face the entire time.
5/5

'Just the wish that you may find in yourself enough patients to endure and enough simplicity to have faith; that you may gain more and more confidence in what is difficult and in your solitude among other people. And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.'

¹ For more on the corruption of literature through any attempt at interpretation or criticism, I highly recommend reading Susan Sontag essay Against Interpretation (thank you to Mike for showing me this essay). Also, for further reading on the distortion of Rilke’s words, William H. Gass has his take on translating the great poet: Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation

...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Jim Fonseca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: german-authors, poetry

Rilke (1875-1926) was a famous German poet, born in Prague. He traveled widely throughout Europe, married and had a daughter. A dozen years out of school, after Rilke had achieved some fame as a poet, a young man wrote to him asking for advice about life and poetry. Rilke wrote ten letters to him over five years. The young boy was romantic, frail and dreamy; a prisoner, so to speak, in a military boarding school where he was subject to strict discipline, bullying and humiliation. It was the same ...more

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May 16, 2014 Gaurav rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone who is interested in thoughts of Rilke, Anyone interested in knowing how to write with soul

Shelves: favorites, rilke-the-aewsome

Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke

'Letters to young poet', written by famed poet Rainer Maria Rilke, starts with a 'imaginary' poet Mr. Kappus seeking affirmation, from the great German poet, whether he should write ? The book continues with a series of letters which are generous answers, to the letters by'Young Worker', by Rilke, who was only 28 then, at length, and in great detail about what constitutes creativity and poetry, and how to channel the former into the latter. When you r ...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Riku Sayuj rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, writing-related, r-r-rs, spiritual

The last book for the year. The soothing, gentle, unimposing yet wise voice of Rilke - what better way to fold up one more chapter in life and open another, with hope for more suffering and joys in apt measure. This little book has been my companion for four years now, always half-finished, and it feels strange to finally remove the bookmark and to keep it aside.

Read it with a forgiving bend. Keep in mind that Rilke never wrote them with an intention to publish, it was mostly an attempt to conve ...more

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Feb 25, 2015 Seemita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: restless minds seeking a permanent footing.

Shelves: epislotary, religion, germany, for_legacy, translated, me, novella, philo, favorites, singing_words

Dear Mr. Rilke,

Assuming it to be a frequent phenomenon with you, I partake in pleasure and liberty of appointing you the receiver of yet another letter, from a besotted admirer of your wisdom and expression.

You see I have always felt that the best stories are those that we wish turned true; stories that uplift us with their depths and spring us back to the surface to stay afloat; stories that carry our thoughts in their seams and weave the most warm blankets to protect us in the winters of life; Dear Mr. Rilke,

Assuming it to be a frequent phenomenon with you, I partake in pleasure and liberty of appointing you the receiver of yet another letter, from a besotted admirer of your wisdom and expression.

You see I have always felt that the best stories are those that we wish turned true; stories that uplift us with their depths and spring us back to the surface to stay afloat; stories that carry our thoughts in their seams and weave the most warm blankets to protect us in the winters of life; stories that complete the half-drawn picture, packing us to a destination of solace.

But above all, a story works best when the mind inking it knows its reader like a best friend; knowing when to let her be and when to rejig her. When the pen joins dots to create conversations between its one such holder and this distant best friend, the creations turn alive, ringing their elevating bells for years to come.

Although I laid hands on a bunch of letters your wrote to Mr.Kappus, your young poet friend, I was taken aback by the loud resonance that penetrated my soul upon reading them. You came to bless me with your songs on life at a time when I was getting crushed under boulders of fear and anxiety with my arms turning deplorably limp to make even the smallest of difference. These bouts are not uncommon but this time, they were of epic proportions. When the ground beneath one’s ideals is suddenly shaken in virulent jolts, she looks upto the skies in hope of a miraculous intervention. You, were mine. Like a supreme entablature, your sagacity descended upon me, stabilizing my fledgling structure. Your distilled prudence covered every open bevel, every bruised crevice in my existence and all at once, I was steady, sturdy and breathing again.
And your doubts can become a good quality if you school them. They must grow to be knowledgeable, they must learn to be critical. As soon as they begin to spoil something for you ask them why a thing is ugly, demand hard evidence, test them, and you will perhaps find them at a loss and short of an answer, or perhaps mutinous. But do not give in, request arguments, and act with this kind of attentiveness and consistency every single time, and the day will come when instead of being demolishers they will be among your best workers – perhaps the canniest of all those at work on the building of your life.
It might be heartening for you to know that I have been attributing my strength to my doubts as much as to my beliefs. In fact, I have often found myself strolling on numerous evenings, absorbed in an inconsequential mist of doubts and dilemmas. Donning the robe of a forced soloist has never stopped me from performing but has often questioned my embrace of solitude. Is it even worth? All those seconds ticking away without another pair of eyes in the vicinity?

What is needed is this, and this alone: solitude, great inner loneliness. Going into oneself and not meeting anyone for hours – that is what one must arrive at.

You quelled my fear; in the most beautiful way. You didn’t deflect me from my walk. Instead you slipped an inexpressible kind of validation beneath my feet that transformed the weather all at once. Holding your finger, the hard road of complexities and predicaments turned a generous grass-bed of soft, white clouds – engulfing me in a feeling of beauty, tenderness, clarity and alacrity while sending buoyant tremors of spirit into my being.

I know I would continue to run into speed-breakers during this voyage of mine; occasional skidding on account of poor reflexes on dense complexes would also be inevitable. But both in bountiful and sick days, I would survive on your inspiring truths; those that cannot be seized by time or place, those that do not have any negative cape, those that find beauty in much, those that detect a breath in dust.
If there is something ailing in the way you go about things, then remember that sickness is the means by which an organism rids itself of something foreign to it. All one has to do is help it to be ill, to have its whole illness and let it break out, for that is how it mends itself.
. ...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, literature, non-fiction, biography, poetry, essay

Briefe an einen jungen Dichter = Letters to a Young Poet‬‭‭, Rainer Maria Rilke

In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value.

The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters — an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry.

The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic deve Briefe an einen jungen Dichter = Letters to a Young Poet‬‭‭, Rainer Maria Rilke

In 1903, a student at a military academy sent some of his verses to a well-known Austrian poet, requesting an assessment of their value.

The older artist, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), replied to the novice in this series of letters — an amazing archive of remarkable insights into the ideas behind Rilke's greatest poetry.

The ten letters reproduced here were written during an important stage in Rilke's artistic development, and they contain many of the themes that later appeared in his best works.

The poet himself afterwards stated that his letters contained part of his creative genius, making this volume essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse.

عنوانها: چند نامه به شاعری جوان و یک داستان و چند شعر؛ نامه هایی به شاعری جوان؛ نویسنده: راینر ماریا ریلکه؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز نهم ماه ژوئن سال 2005 میلادی

عنوان: چند نامه به شاعری جوان و یک داستان و چند شعر؛ نویسنده: راینر ماریا ریلکه؛ مترجم: پرویز ناتل خانلری؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، آبان، 1353، در 110ص، موضوع: نامه های نویسندگان آلمانی سده 20م، راینر ماریا ریلکه از 1875، تا 1926م

در 110صفحه توسط انتشارات معین، با ترجمه پرویز ناتل خانلری، شابک 9789647603409

عنوان: نامه هایی به شاعری جوان؛ نوشته: راینر ماریا ریلکه؛ مترجم: علی متولی زاده اردکانی؛ مشحصات نشر تهران، تعاونی کارآفرینان فرهنگ و هنر، 1386، 71ص، شابک 9789648742602؛ موضوع: نامه های نویسندگان آلمانی سده 20م

راینر ماریا ریلکه ‏(زاده روز سوم ماه دسامبر سال 1975میلادی– درگذشته در روز بیست و نهم ماه دسامبر سال 1926میلادی) از برترین شاعران آلمانی‌ زبان، در سده بیستم میلادی بودند؛ برخی از سروده‌ ها و داستان‌های «ریلکه» را، مترجمانی همچون جنابان آقایان: «شرف‌ الدین خراسانی»، «پرویز ناتل خانلری»، «مهدی غبرایی»، و «علی عبداللهی»، به فارسی ترجمه و منتشر کرده‌ اند؛ «پرویز ناتل خانلری» نخستین بار در سال 1320هجری خورشیدی، همین اثر را با عنوان: «نامه‌ هایی به شاعری جوان» ترجمه کردند؛ رمان «دفترهای مالده لائوریس بریگه» از آثار ایشان با برگردان جناب آقای «مهدی غبرائی»، و ترجمهٔ گزیده‌ ای از اشعار ایشان، در «کتاب شاعران» توسط جنابان آقایان (مراد فرهادپور و یوسف اباذری)، و همچنین مجموعه‌ ای از آثار ایشان به قلم جناب آقای «علی عبداللهی»، به فارسی برگردان شده‌ اند

نقل از متن: «اگر مهر خود را بر هرچه هست بگسترید، اگر به فروتنی بکوشید، تا با هرچه ناچیز مینماید آشنا شوید، آنگاه همه ی امور برای شما آسانتر خواهد شد و در نظرتان خوش آهنگتر و دوستانه تر جلوه خواهد کرد.»؛ پایان نقل

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 08/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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May 01, 2013 Fionnuala added it

Shelves: review-may-contain-comic-content, translated-from-german, non-fiction

Dear Mr Rilke,
How can I thank you enough for these marvelously heartfelt letters, full of inspiration, beauty and wisdom. They are a glorious gift, a gospel of wonderful words which I will follow all the days of my life.

Dear Reader,
If there is one thing I would say to you, it is to caution you against immoderation, against lavish and excessive language. When you write, try to say what you really feel and using the simplest language you know. Listen to the silence deep in your heart and begin th ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 J.L. Sutton rated it it was amazing

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves...Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

“The only journey is the one within.”

Image result for rilke

Really loved the idea of 'living the question.' Beginning in 1903 and spanning a 5-year period, Rainer ...more

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Aug 03, 2020 Paul Bryant rated it really liked it

Shelves: all-kinds-of-everything

LETTER FROM A YOUNG POET

Dear Mr Rilke

I am not sure I made myself completely clear in my last letter to you. Judging by the reply you were so kind enough to send, I don’t think you quite realised that my landlord has now issued a notice to quit, the period of which terminates this month, and, as I tried to explain, I have been let go from my position at the slaughterhouse – I stress that these are not metaphors, or ironic parables, dear Mr Rilke. It could be that you thought I was speaking poetic ...more

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Jul 10, 2018 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

While reading “Ideas of Heaven: A Ring of Stories”,
by Joan Silber .... I found myself really enjoying the poetry - inserted - by Rainer Maria Rilke—relevant -powerful - truthful - beautiful- words of depth I connected with.

I wanted to know more about who Rilke was.
I found this book -a
compilation of 10 letters that Rilke wrote to a young poet named Franz Xaver. Xaver wanted to know if his work was good.
— Rilke letters are inspirational - filled with wisdom -( jewels to writers)- and beauty. ...more

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Jan 27, 2008 AB rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to AB by: Mara Collins

Shelves: letters, author-m, nonfiction, own, translations

In which Rainer Maria Rilke, both mercilessly and mercifully, bashes me over the head with a baseball bat from the other side of the Great Whatever.

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May 15, 2008 Michelle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I always underline in books, either for the wise quotes that teach or the pure beauty of the passage. About ten pages into this book, though, I gave up underlining as nearly every sentence was a combination of beauty and wisdom. These letters (to a young man he never even met!) are inspiring in their honesty, teaching to cherish your solitude, "to walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours... to be solitary as you were when you were a child, when the grownups walked around involved with matt I always underline in books, either for the wise quotes that teach or the pure beauty of the passage. About ten pages into this book, though, I gave up underlining as nearly every sentence was a combination of beauty and wisdom. These letters (to a young man he never even met!) are inspiring in their honesty, teaching to cherish your solitude, "to walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours... to be solitary as you were when you were a child, when the grownups walked around involved with matters that seemed large and important because they looked so busy and because you didn't understand a thing about what they were doing."

A few gems:

"Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person (for what would a union be of two people who are unclarified, unfinished, and still incoherent--?), it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distances" (70).

"The future stands still, dear Mr. Kappus, but we move in infinite space" (86).

"We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors; if it has abysses, these abysses belong to us; if there are dangers, we must try to love them. And if only we arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, when what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience. How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transofmred into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love" (92). ...more

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Aug 14, 2020 Robin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, writing-tools, austria, translation, non-fiction

What a tremendous thrill it must have been for budding poet Franz Xaver Kappus, to receive the first letter in response to his own from his literary idol, Rainer Maria Rilke. And then, to receive nine more.

This collection has been widely read and is widely loved. Only the letters from Rilke (written from 1903 - 1908) are included, which is fine, because even Rilke acknowledges several times that he is not addressing Kappus' specific questions or concerns. Rather, he gives a loving, far reaching What a tremendous thrill it must have been for budding poet Franz Xaver Kappus, to receive the first letter in response to his own from his literary idol, Rainer Maria Rilke. And then, to receive nine more.

This collection has been widely read and is widely loved. Only the letters from Rilke (written from 1903 - 1908) are included, which is fine, because even Rilke acknowledges several times that he is not addressing Kappus' specific questions or concerns. Rather, he gives a loving, far reaching, all encompassing oration on how to conduct oneself as an artist. It's almost as if he knew that generations of readers would be sharing in this correspondence, and collectively gasping at the generous wisdom imparted in these missives.

Rilke emphasizes over and over the importance of solitude, of not creating art with the idea of outside reaction, and of clinging to what is "difficult" because it's there that one finds the greatest reward. These are all good pieces of advice to any writer or artist, or even human being in general. I didn't quite connect with all of Rilke's thoughts, though. Some of them felt a bit too philosophical, pie-in-the-sky for me. But there are many gems that make this lovely epistolary collection well worth reading.

For someone who wonders if they should be a writer:

This above all - ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write? Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple "I must," then build your life according to this necessity.

For an artist discouraged with what they have accomplished thus far:

There is here no measuring with time, no year matters, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means, not reckoning and counting, but ripening like the tree which does not force its sap and stands confident in the storms of spring without the fear that after them may come no summer. It does come. But it comes only to the patient, who are there as though eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly still and wide.

For lovers, and their indelible contribution to art:

And those who come together in the night and are entwined in rocking delight do an earnest work and gather sweetnesses, gather depth and strength for the song of some coming poet, who will arise to speak of ecstasies beyond telling. ...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Aubrey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Aubrey by: s.penkevich

Shelves: non-fiction, shorty-short, r-goodreads, reviewed, pure-power-of-gr, translated, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die, german, poetry, 5-star

Twelve years on and it will have been a ten
by ten span of time since you left, Rilke.
Left on high, left to below both word and
hope, hope, most of all hope. Your heart you gave,
and for that we love.

I'd like to rhyme in metered line along
the likes of you, but too long ago your
poetry graced my eyes. What lies left's a
feeling fit for tears and joy alone, and
somber light it is.

Your maudlin days do not astonish, for
many a kindred of mine has suffered
the same, and yet, goes on. I draw from each
going ...more

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Aug 28, 2020 CarolynMarieReads rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, classics-i-ve-read, read-books-i-own

BREATHTAKING!!!
First book finished for the Rory Gilmore 24 hour readathon!!! Full review to come!!! 📖🖤

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Jul 17, 2014 Owlseyes rated it really liked it

Shelves: czech-lit, german-language, epistolary

Notes collected

Rilke, the lonely German-language poet, but not really a German, rather an exile for 10 years,...possessor of nothing, but his language, shows a young man how a "masterpiece of art" can be accomplished and last for long.

Paris 1903.

It appears that Rilke had been approached by a poet asking for a critical view of his output. Yet, Rilke's standing was not critical, at all; he rather preferred a hearty (almost paternal) reply. So he advised the young poet to look inside, ...more

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Feb 23, 2020 Sanjay Gautam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It was a profound, almost celestial, experience reading these letters by Rilke.

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Nov 17, 2015 Perry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, books-most-loved

A Treasure Chest for Artists and Lovers of Art

I don't normally read a lot of poetry, but when considering this book a few years back, I'd read some of Rilke's poetry and the high praise I mention below. When I read this short book (80 pages) though, I had no idea what a true chest of treasures lies herein. I highlighted so much text and made so many notes, I noticed I left little text unscathed.

This book consists of ten letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke to a younger poet. It, and particularl A Treasure Chest for Artists and Lovers of Art

I don't normally read a lot of poetry, but when considering this book a few years back, I'd read some of Rilke's poetry and the high praise I mention below. When I read this short book (80 pages) though, I had no idea what a true chest of treasures lies herein. I highlighted so much text and made so many notes, I noticed I left little text unscathed.

This book consists of ten letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke to a younger poet. It, and particularly this latest translation from German to English is well worth your time for its enlightenment on and encouragement of a love of life and art and of creativity. Somewhere I cannot now locate I read testimonials from some of the many great artists who have been deeply and positively affected by these letters over the past many decades.

To anyone reading this review who is considering creative writing, I cannot stress enough the importance of reading this book, particularly as an invaluable counterbalance, in the name of Art and creativity above all else, to all the structural and technical writing tips you've likely been getting from all directions.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet, probably one of the most esteemed of all German-speaking poets and by many thought to be one of the greatest and most innovative in Western poetry. From the Poetry Foundation page on Rilke is this description: he "strove throughout his life to reconcile beauty and suffering, life and death, into one philosophy. ... For him Art was what mattered most in life." Poetry Foundation (internal cites omitted).

The Guardian in its review of the new and best English translation of this book in May 2011 said, "And how could one not be glad to have lived long enough to read lines such as these: 'To love is also good, for love is hard. Love between one person and another: that is perhaps the hardest thing it is laid on us to do, the utmost, the ultimate trial and test, the work for which all other work is just preparation.'" "Very good advice from on high", The Guardian, May 12, 2011 (quoting from this book).

As a relative neophyte in appreciating poetry, I cannot do much more justice to the book than to quote you my favorite couple of passages: quotes:

...approach nature. Then try, like the first human being, to say what you see and experience and love and lose. ... flee general subjects and take refuge in those offered by your own day-to-day life; depict your sadnesses and desires, passing thoughts and faith in some kind of beauty—depict all this with intense, quiet, humble sincerity and make use of whatever you find about you to express yourself, the images from your dreams and the things in your memory.

If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches, for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place. And even if you were in a prison whose walls did not let any of the sounds of the world outside reach your senses—would you not have your childhood still, this marvelous, lavish source, this treasure-house of memories? Turn your attention towards that. Attempt to raise the sunken sensations of this distant past; your self will become the stronger for it, your loneliness will open up and become a twilit dwelling in which the noise other people make is only heard far off.

And if from this turn inwards, from this submersion in your own world, there come verses, then it will not occur to you to ask anyone whether they are good verses. ... in them you will see your beloved natural possessions, a piece, and a voice, of your life. A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. The verdict on it lies in this nature of its origin: there is no other. For this reason, my dear Sir, the only advice I have is this: to go into yourself and to examine the depths from which your life springs; at its source you will find the answer to the question of whether you have to write.

****

And if we only organize our life according to the principle which teaches us always to hold to what is difficult, then what now still appears most foreign will become our most intimate and most reliable experience. How can we forget those ancient myths found at the beginnings of all peoples? The myths about the dragons who at the last moment turn into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses, only waiting for the day when they will see us handsome and brave? Perhaps everything terrifying is deep down a helpless thing that needs our help.

...more

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Sep 11, 2019 Constantina Maud rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I could just paste here all the passages I highlighted while reading this last month during my breaks from writing--but that would mean pasting practically the entire book.
Because it is that good.
You don't have to be a writer to truly enjoy this heartwarming read. Through this correspondence revolving around the writing craft, Rilke gives us glimpses into his general worldview and way of life convictions. His insight and existential approach on themes like anxiety, solitude and empathy are deepl ...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Rakhi Dalal rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

There is something very pious about the experience you have while reading this book. No, I am certainly not a theist. Not anymore. But if ever there were a Pantheon built for the bibliophiles, Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letter To a Young Poet” shall invariably have a place in it.

Though this is just an account of Letters written by him to an aspiring poet, Rainer speaks to you in a language, which seems to be coming back to you, like a cherished memory once been forgotten. The Solitude he speaks abou ...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Evan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: __in-my-collection, philosophy, essay-critique-short-form-or-memoir, poetry, 2010-reads, my-faves, epistle-larry-approves

Sigh. Rilke answers nothing and answers everything.

He talks of our ancestors as being "murmuring blood." This book, containing the voice of his wisdom across the age, is blood that courses through us and speaks.

It offers comfort to me in the face of life's challenges, its unrequited longings. It helps me see the value of difficulties and the importance of patience.

I wish I'd read this many years ago. I think it would have given me guidance I needed, even if it didn't lead me away from mistakes. ...more

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Jun 24, 2019 Calista rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: award-various, genre-memoir-biography, histiorical, sub-artist, genre-poetry-prose-rhyming, 1900-1929, bage-mature, genre-nonfiction

Rilke has sent 10 letters to his friend and pen pal, Kappus, talking about all manner of things, but mostly art and poetry. Kappus is a student asking Rilke about writing. He sends him his stories and letters and Rilke reads them and comments them. They also have a friendship developing between them.

This isn't a story, but it shows a historical mentorship. The book is the 10 letters that Rilke sent, but in this edition, they also print out the letters that Kappus sent to Rilke so we can see both ...more

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Feb 01, 2020 Gabrielle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, non-fiction, philosophy, own-a-copy, mandatory-reading, reviewed, read-in-2020, writing

Last weekend, I went to see “Jojo Rabbit” with my husband. I laughed so hard, and then I ugly-cried. Needless to say, I loved the movie, and I was very struck with the final frame, which showed a quote from one of Rilke’s most famous poem, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing”:

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final."

We had to stay behind while I composed myself as the credits rolled, because out of nowhere, that quote hit me like a sucker punch. I’ve had a Last weekend, I went to see “Jojo Rabbit” with my husband. I laughed so hard, and then I ugly-cried. Needless to say, I loved the movie, and I was very struck with the final frame, which showed a quote from one of Rilke’s most famous poem, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing”:

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final."

We had to stay behind while I composed myself as the credits rolled, because out of nowhere, that quote hit me like a sucker punch. I’ve had a weird, emotional month, and I really needed to read those words – but they also turned on the waterworks. Fucking poets. I got back home and dug out the only thing by Rilke that I have in my library, an itty-bitty little collection of his correspondence with an aspiring poet, aptly titled “Letters to a Young Poet”. I bought it after reading “The World of Yesterday” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), in which Zweig praises Rilke as the best thing since sliced bread and I was curious.

Have you ever been terrified of a book? Like you put on your desk or wherever, and then you stare it down, to try and convince it NOT to shred you to ribbons if you work up the courage to crack it open. I sort of did that with “Letters to a Young Poet”.

“OK, Mr. Rilke, we have to make a deal here; I’ll read what the blurb describes as your life-changing advice to aspiring writers, but you have to promise me I won’t be a sobbing mess at the end!”

I wasn't a sobbing mess by the end, but I found myself wishing this book had found its way in my hands when I was much, much younger. I wished I had read Rilke's words about love and loneliness and endurance before I had been familiar with heartbreak, and crippling feelings of abandonment. I think they would have helped a lot.

Despite what the title of this collection might lead one to believe, there isn't much advice here about writing per se. More advice about living, which will eventually trickle down into writing. The gentle intimacy of the letters, the incredible kindness Rilke put into his advice to Franz Kappus in and of itself is deeply moving, inspiring and comforting. This man had a very great and precious mind, and we are lucky his words are still available to us.

It goes without saying that the prose is beautiful, elegant and lyrical. I could have spent the whole day copying down quotes from it, but it's only 50 pages, so go read it for yourself! I'll certainly be reading it many more times. Excuse me while I go to my favorite bookstore and buy all their Rilke. Fucking poets.

(For the record, it's 4 stars instead of 5 because it is too short! I wanted much, much more of those letters, much much more of the kind words of advice.)

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” ...more

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Jul 08, 2017 Steven Godin rated it really liked it

Shelves: germany, non-fiction, diaries-journals-letters, austria

As Rilke's poetry has been notoriously hard to translate, the best way to get into the realm of Rilke is by simply reading these letters. One feels that we are getting to the essence not only of Rilke's poetry, but Rilke himself.

The story behind them is straightforward enough - A young officer cadet called Franz Xaver Kappus writes to Rilke, enclosing some verses of his own and asking for advice. Remember Rilke at this point was only 28 and had scant reputation of his own except among people wel As Rilke's poetry has been notoriously hard to translate, the best way to get into the realm of Rilke is by simply reading these letters. One feels that we are getting to the essence not only of Rilke's poetry, but Rilke himself.

The story behind them is straightforward enough - A young officer cadet called Franz Xaver Kappus writes to Rilke, enclosing some verses of his own and asking for advice. Remember Rilke at this point was only 28 and had scant reputation of his own except among people well informed about him). And what happened in his reply was almost magical. The intent behind it may have been "please don't write to me again, ever", but as "please leave me alone" letters go it is quite exquisite: thoughtful, candid and useful, and a template for every subsequent encouraging communication that the more experienced are obliged to deliver to those who seek their advice.

More letters followed. Kappus's sporadic communications tracked Rilke around Europe as he went from Paris to Viareggio to Bremen to Rome to Sweden; 10 letters over six years, so Rilke, himself a prodigious letter-writer, could hardly have felt he was being pestered. And when these letters came to be published after Rilke's death, Kappus self-effacingly (and wisely) left his own side of the correspondence out, with the exception of one sonnet of his that Rilke copied out in his own hand – a tender and generous gesture: "Read the lines as if they were unknown to you, and you will feel in your inmost self how very much they are yours."

Clearly, Rilke is sorting out his own thoughts, This gives the letters their freshness, as well as occasional moments of clotted expression. This was a rewarding read, albeit a short one, and reveals more good sense than you might at first have thought. A great place to start with Rilke, if one has yet to read any of his poetry. One could even argue this is Rilke at his most Sympathetic, tender, and awe inspiring. Wonderful insights into the author's life and mind. ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 IE rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This book divides me, unequally.

So there's this younger me—college sophomore, terribly confused, desperate, and unconsolably depressed, who recites You Who Never Arrived during long, vespertine walks, and who sees poetry as a way to emancipate the soul: yes, that type—who sees Letters To A Young Poet as something immaculate, who might as well put the hundred-page paperback in a glass case, on top of a pedestal, and worship it every morning. He is the smaller half, perhaps fifteen, twenty percen ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 rahul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

We should be exchanging more letters with one another.
Not the kind you mail or type in a neat little MS Office font.
But ink stained, yellowing at the corners, hidden in dictionaries till there creases start to tear and the memory of other's handwriting bridge the meaning between words left unsaid and others that have faded. Those written with red, green, blue, black inks and sometimes with words scratched , over written almost like lithograph of thoughts.
Yeah, we should be dipping our hands in ...more

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Jul 14, 2018 Julie added it

Shelves: 20th-century, poetry

I have found out that I far prefer Mr. Rilke's poetry, to his prose. While there are lovely little gems thrown into these letters for the reader to find, he's just another young man bestowing his wisdom on the world. We are never so wise as we are at 22 and 25, with the whole world to discover; and indeed, think we have discovered the keys to the universe in the heart of a flower, or a poem. (Perhaps we had, as Rilke had.) And like Rilke, nothing that we ever did after that amounted to all the w ...more

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Oct 10, 2016 Chris_P rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics-and-modern-classics, non-fiction

I guess this little book is the original and "the real thing" equivalent of Coelho's pseudophilosophical, pseudoinspirational manuals. Rilke sent these letters to Franz Xaver Kappus, in 1903-08 at the age of 28-33, who sought the famous poet's advice at a time when he was tormented by his loneliness and lack of confidence in his own works. One doesn't need to be an aspiring poet in order to draw inspiration from Rilke's wisdom which covers subjects of general importance. It's a book meant to be ...more

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Aug 18, 2020 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-translated, 20th-century, lit-writ-german, read-2020, non-fiction, philosophy

131st book of 2020.

Stunning – for anyone who has ever felt lonely should read these letters; for anyone who loves art and creativity should read these letters.

Franz Xaver Kappus wrote to Rainer Maria Rilke, sending both his work, and we can presume from the one-sided letters here, thoughts on his own life, his solitude and his anxieties. The result of this correspondence is Rilke’s meditations on art and loneliness and love and life, recorded forever.

be patient towards all that is unresolve
131st book of 2020.

Stunning – for anyone who has ever felt lonely should read these letters; for anyone who loves art and creativity should read these letters.

Franz Xaver Kappus wrote to Rainer Maria Rilke, sending both his work, and we can presume from the one-sided letters here, thoughts on his own life, his solitude and his anxieties. The result of this correspondence is Rilke’s meditations on art and loneliness and love and life, recorded forever.

be patient towards all that is unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms, like books written in a foreign tongue. Do not now strive to uncover answers: they cannot be given you because you have not been able to live them. And what matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now. Perhaps then you will gradually, without noticing it, live your way into the answer, one distant day in the future.

Rilke writes with the beauty of his poetry in his letters to the young poet. He is kind, sensitive, and patient.

It is good to be alone, for solitude is difficult; that something is difficult should be one more reason to do it.

I have underlined most of the things written in this book. It is as dense as Rilke’s poetry in the sense it begs to be underlined, recorded and savoured.

But your solitude, even in the midst of quite foreign circumstances, will be a hold and a home for you, and leading from it you will find all the paths you need.

He says of art, which is the most beautiful description I have read of the creative process, I think:

These things cannot be measured by time, a year has no meaning, and ten years are nothing. To be an artist means: not to calculate and count; to grow and ripen like a tree which does not hurry the flow of its sap and stands at ease in the spring gales without fearing that no summer may follow. It will come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are simply there in their vast, quiet tranquillity, as if eternity lay before them. It is a lesson I learn every day amid hardships I am thankful for: patience is all!

And to show the skill of Rilke’s writing even in his letters, and to finish the review, a quote which will soon be pinned above my desk:

In all that lies before you to experience and do, it will continue as an anonymous influence and have a subtly decisive effect, perhaps like the way the blood of our ancestors moves unceasingly within us and mingles with our own to make us the unique, not-to-be-repeated being that we are at every turn of our lives.

...more

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Apr 27, 2020 Tiernan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favs

Second time reading...this is an all-time favorite and one that should be revisited every few years. Also, a perfect quarantine read.

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About Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke

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Rainer Maria Rilke is considered one of the German language's greatest 20th century poets.

His haunting images tend to focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety — themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.

He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. His two mos ...more

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“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” — 11202 likes

“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” — 2834 likes

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