Letters to a Young Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke

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I must thank Soul for lending me this book, which I would like to read again and again. Especially during the special moments in your life or when you are about to embark on something new. “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke is not just inspirational but quite uplifting. It is a collection of ten letters that Rilke wrote to an aspiring poet, providing him encouragement and support.

Perhaps Rilke’s humble yet penetrating insights were born out of his own experiences. Rilke was always a gentle personality, shy and reserved. His father sent him to a military school to toughen him up, an experience, which was traumatizing for Rilke. After five years of enduring humiliation and bullying, Rilke returned home to continue his studies. During this time he indulged in his passion of writing poetry.

Around 12 years later, when 19 year old Franz Kappus wrote to him from the same military school, asking him to critique his poetry, it struck a deep chord in Rilke. It is this outpouring of thoughts that is recorded in these ten letters. Unlike a lot of motivational books that loudly breathe into your ear to do this or do that, Rilke’s letters speak in a quiet, steady voice that imparts strength and urges you to look within more often. I loved the tone and the gems of thought that Rilke brings forth. At times it concerns the greater good of the world,

“Perhaps the great renewal of the world will consist of this, that man and woman, freed of all confused feelings and desires, shall no longer seek each other as opposites, but simply as members of a family and neighbors, and will unite as human beings…”

Most often it is for individual betterment,

“But he who has a pact with aloneness can even now prepare the way for all of this that in the future may well be possible for many, and can build with hands less apt to err. Therefore, dear friend, embrace your solitude and love it.”

Other musings have their root in, perhaps, his past. These quotes below are two of my most favorite out of the book,

"To love is also good, for love is difficult. For one human being to love another is perhaps the most difficult task of all, the epitome, the ultimate test."

“Live awhile within these books. Learn of them, whatever seems worth the learning, but above all, love them. For this love you shall be requited a thousand and thousand times over, no matter what turn your life will take.”

And I cannot agree more with that. Rilke’s book is one of them. Do read. You will only be the richer for it.

Soul, thanks for lending this amazing work.


Verdict: Beautiful. Thoughtful. Profound.

Rating: 5/5