Many readers have called Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet life-altering, and many writers of all ages have felt as moved as the original recipient must have been by reading these letters. The 10 letters have been called timeless. Their message—sage advice to creative writers—is still current. Their genre appears to be prose, but they are poetry in prose.

Instead of giving pointers about writing as such to Franz Xaver Kappus, the young poet who was a student of one of Rilke’s own former teachers, Rilke gives the young poet guidance on living. Rilke tells Kappus to listen to the voice within. He counsels him on the process of going inward and looking outward. All things, Rilke remarks, will influence one’s writing.

Inspiration comes from living—if the work is really meant to be. If the young man is to be a poet, the words, Rilke says, will come. There will be no escaping the inner need to write. He must write for himself, first and foremost—not for others.

In these letters Rilke advocates writing about what one knows, and he advocates knowing as much as is possible, starting with nature. He advocates waiting to write about love until one has experienced it well enough to describe it so perfectly to another that the poet brings this love alive to his reader. Most important, Rilke advocates patience in all things.

He says with patience and learning, the time will come when words are ripe for the writer’s picking, and the writer may harvest a garden worthy of a long winter. Patience is a great passion. Patience is the passion of a life lived largely alone, even in the company of others. This is something Rilke knew well at an early age. Readers of Letters to a Young Poet may be surprised to discover that Rilke was only 28 when he first responded to Franz Xaver Kappus.

There are several good versions of this text in English. One of the most respected is the translation of Stephen Mitchell (1984), but also of great significance is the version translated by M. D. Herter Norton (1934) and its revised edition (1954, reprinted 1962).

Bibliography
The Academy of American Poets: Rainer Maria Rilke. Available online. URL: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/295. Accessed on April 23, 2007.

Gass, William H. Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation. New York: Knopf, 1999; reprinted by Basic Books, 2000.

The Rainer Maria Rilke Archive. Available online. URL: https://rilkepoetry.com/. Accessed on April 23, 2025.

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet, translated and introduction by Stephen Mitchell. New York: Random House, 1984.

Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet. Translated by M. D. Herter Norton. 1934. Rev. ed. 1954. Reprint, New York: Norton, 1962.

Categories: British Literature, German Literature, Literature, World Literature

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