Letters to a Young Poet

by Rainer Maria Rilke

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1993

About the author

A mystic lyricism and precise imagery often marked verse of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, whose collections profoundly influenced 20th-century German literature and include The Book of Hours (1905) and The Duino Elegies (1923).

People consider him of the greatest 20th century users of the language.

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.

His two most famous sequences include the Sonnets to Orpheus , and his most famous prose works include the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge .

He also wrote more than four hundred poems in French, dedicated to the canton of Valais in Switzerland, his homeland of choice.

Reviews

[apw 🌀🌟🐛 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the letters but by the end I did not like the step by step detail of his life but I might if I were to re read it. Has some really great ideas and thoughts

[Stephen Gott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brief book is basically a collection of ten letters, sent by Austrian poet/novelist Rainer Maria Rilke to a young writer and countryman, Franz Xaver Kappus, between 1903 to 1908 (actually only about 10 years between the two writers). The letters contain advice and information on Rilkes life and travels. I found the book an interesting read that made me want to see Kappus's corresponding letters. Now I find out that these letters have recently been discovered and have been published together. It looks like I'll be reading "Letters To A Young Poet" again!