Letters to a Young Poet

Facsimile of 1943 Edition. Born in 1875, the great German lyric poet Rainer Maria Rilke published his first collection of poems in 1898 and went on to become renowned for his delicate depiction of the workings of the human heart. Drawn by some sympathetic note in his poems, young people often wrote to Rilke with their problems and hopes. From 1903 to 1908 Rilke wrote a series of remarkable responses to a young, would-be poet on poetry and on surviving as a sensitive observer in a harsh world. Those letters, ten in all, remain a fresh source of inspiration and insight to the poetic sensibility to this day.

Rainer Maria Rilke (December 4, 1875-December 29, 1926) was an Austrian poet and writer. Known for his lyrically potent work, he combined subjective mysticism with precise observation of the objective world. At the time of his death, Rilke's work was incredibly admired by certain circles of European artists, but mostly unknown to the public. Since then, his popularity has grown steadily, and he has come to be universally regarded as a master of verse.