Letters to a Young Poet
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Letters to a Young Poet Paperback – August 1, 1993
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
It would take a deeply cynical heart not to fall in love with Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet. At the end of this millennium, his slender book holds everything a student of the century could want: the unedited thoughts of (arguably) the most important European poet of the modern age. Rilke wrote these 10 sweepingly emotional letters in 1903, addressing a former student of one of his own teachers. The recipient was wise enough to omit his own inquiries from the finished product, which means that we get a marvelously undiluted dose of Rilkean aesthetics and exhortation.
The poet prefaced each letter with an evocative notation of the city in which he wrote, including Paris, Rome, and the outskirts of Pisa. Yet he spends most of the time encouraging the student in his own work, delivering a sublime, one-on-one equivalent of the modern writing workshop:
Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside.Every page is stamped with Rilke's characteristic grace, and the book is free of the breathless effect that occasionally mars his poetry. His ideas on gender and the role of the artist are also surprisingly prescient. And even his retrograde comment on the "beauty of the virgin" (which the poet derives from the fact that she "has not yet achieved anything") is counterbalanced by his perception that "the sexes are more related than we think." Those looking for an alluring image of the solitary artist--and for an astonishing quotient of wisdom--will find both in Letters to a Young Poet. --Jennifer Buckendorff
Review
"...I cannot think of a better book to put into the hands of any young would-be poet, as an inspirational guide to poetry and to surviving as a poet in a hostile world." Harry Fainlight, The Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 52 people found the following review helpful
By
J from NY
VINE VOICE on July 12, 2004
Format: Paperback
2 Comments
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I have read, re-read and generally mutilated my copy of Rainier Maria Rilke's "Letters To A Young Poet". Rarely does a day go by without me thinking of Rilke's Nietzschean, no-holds-barred philosophy of the real poet. For him, a poet is no simply one who writes verses or rhymes words: it is a different kind of human being who embraces not only beauty and happinesss but suffering and misfortune. His thoughts on solitude are absolutely indispensable. Any artist or aspiring artist who has ever been in a fruitless relationship ("loss of the self" is a theme he explores almost obsessively) will realize that Rilke is writing through experience on the necessity of a good amount of solitude, both spiritual and physical, to create art. He is achingly honest to the poet with whom he is conversing, and passionately sincere. He knows that not every poet is a poet, and that some will find the Promethean task far too exhausting to actually go through with it: the real artist is the one who has no choice in the matter. His inner demons or angels will not ALLOW him to stop writing. Bukowski's thoughts on the matter are similar, as are most major writers and artist. This is a demanding, unforgiving collection of letters. Rilke has no patience for weakness or dilly dallying. But it is more inspiring than any self-help book on the shelf. This should be nationally distributed, not only for artists but for human beings as a whole.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By
kjgrow
on February 11, 2006
Format: Paperback
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Rilke's words are so counterintuitive in this day and age. When he speaks of love it is not with urgency and grand passion - rather, it is with a sense of duty and open acceptance of hardship. When he speaks of solitude, he acknowledges its difficulty but stresses its absolute necessity. When he speaks of self-realization, he refers not to arrival at answers but love of the questions themselves. And when he speaks of writing, he approaches it with reverence and a sense of enormity, saying that it is a vocation which must be patiently and cautiously cultivated.
All of these things he discusses with incredible wisdom and lucidity. For anyone feeling the multiplicity of strains the outside world can impose, Rilke centers, assures, and illuminates.
All of these things he discusses with incredible wisdom and lucidity. For anyone feeling the multiplicity of strains the outside world can impose, Rilke centers, assures, and illuminates.
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45 of 50 people found the following review helpful
By
E. M. Dale
on February 12, 2001
Format: Paperback
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A fine transition from German to English (A-, A+ being Mitchell's translation of the poems), nevertheless no one should be afraid of buying this particular translation. It is sensitive to what Rilke wanted to say and says it in about as good English as you could get from such magnificent language.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By
A Customer
on April 8, 1999
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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I read this book when I was 18. A friend of mine recomended it to me. It was a great surprise from the first line. I read it in an afternoon, and could not forget it. All the phrases of advice were as if they had been written to me, as if my fears and lonely thoughts were there answered, in a poetic way, in a different way of looking at the things...giving importance to little things that usually are lost in this way of rapid movement
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By
M. B. Alcat
on July 6, 2004
Format: Paperback
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"Letters to a Young Poet" is a very small book that allows us to enjoy the correspondence between a famous writer and an aspiring poet. This exchange of letters began in 1903 thanks to a missive that Franz Xaver Kappus sent to R. M. Rilke, and continued for many years, until 1908.
Why is this little book important?. Because it allows us to read what Rilke thought about many subjects, for example life, poetry, and art. And because, as F. X. Kappus said, "when a prince is going to speak, silence must be made".
Kappus wanted to share the insights that Rilke gave him, and thus compiled his missives in "Letters to a young poet". The letters are few, and not overly long, but in this case the knowledge offered is certainly greater than the number of pages.
It is easier to show you what I mean by giving you an example... For instance, what Rilke's advices Franz to do, when he tells him to: "Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist".
On the whole, I highly recommend this book to everybody. It will probably be more useful to aspiring writers, but people who simply enjoy literature will delight in it too :)
Belen Alcat
Why is this little book important?. Because it allows us to read what Rilke thought about many subjects, for example life, poetry, and art. And because, as F. X. Kappus said, "when a prince is going to speak, silence must be made".
Kappus wanted to share the insights that Rilke gave him, and thus compiled his missives in "Letters to a young poet". The letters are few, and not overly long, but in this case the knowledge offered is certainly greater than the number of pages.
It is easier to show you what I mean by giving you an example... For instance, what Rilke's advices Franz to do, when he tells him to: "Go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist".
On the whole, I highly recommend this book to everybody. It will probably be more useful to aspiring writers, but people who simply enjoy literature will delight in it too :)
Belen Alcat
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By
sander
on May 30, 2000
Format: Paperback
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The letters to a young poet are a piece of advise for everybody who is dissatisfied with his life or who maybe just wants to widen its horizon. It is a book that you should read in a period of your life, where you are able to have time for solitude. This book is the embodiement of impressionistic ideas. It is a very personal book and therefore I do not feel able to give a general recommendation and I would also not say that it is a book full of great wisdoms( there are very few of those) but it is a book that shows possible ways of reaching a deeper feeling of life. And it is a book which is full of the wonderfully chosen words of this great great poet: Rainer Maria Rilke
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By
Laura Butler
on February 16, 2007
Format: Paperback
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Letters to a Young Poet is a short read that you can run your eyes and your soul over again and again! But just because it is a short read does not mean it has to be a quick read. Rilke's words were so rich and full that I had to read his letters slowly. I found I enjoyed savoring his beautifully sculpted words even though part of me wished to devour them.
Mr. Kappus, a young poet struggling with life in military school, discovers that he is enrolled in the same military school that Rilke used to attend. Therefore, he decides to seek Rilke's advice and opinions in his poetic endeavors through written correspondence. This book is a compilation of ten letters Rilke sends in response to Mr. Kappus's letters. After the letters themselves, the book builds background context to the letters by informing the reader about Rilke's life and state of mind during the time these letters were written.
I found this book inspiring and saddening at the same time. It isn't really the advice Rilke offers that I value and enjoy so much. My love for this collection of letters stems from the incredible word pictures that Rilke paints in my head and his touchingly sincere style of writing. For example he paints a visual of patience with, "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." His words stir something in the heart.
He writes with such intensity and depth that you can see each lesson taught and each thought that is shared has been earned at a high cost to the writer. He speaks to the young poet on solitude and patience for which he has himself been battling to achieve.Read more ›
Mr. Kappus, a young poet struggling with life in military school, discovers that he is enrolled in the same military school that Rilke used to attend. Therefore, he decides to seek Rilke's advice and opinions in his poetic endeavors through written correspondence. This book is a compilation of ten letters Rilke sends in response to Mr. Kappus's letters. After the letters themselves, the book builds background context to the letters by informing the reader about Rilke's life and state of mind during the time these letters were written.
I found this book inspiring and saddening at the same time. It isn't really the advice Rilke offers that I value and enjoy so much. My love for this collection of letters stems from the incredible word pictures that Rilke paints in my head and his touchingly sincere style of writing. For example he paints a visual of patience with, "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." His words stir something in the heart.
He writes with such intensity and depth that you can see each lesson taught and each thought that is shared has been earned at a high cost to the writer. He speaks to the young poet on solitude and patience for which he has himself been battling to achieve.Read more ›
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