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A review by pinkblingd
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I read and reread this book for one and a half years.
Franz Xaver Kappus was a 19-year-old military officer with a penchant for poetry. He wrote to the famous poet Rilke about the difficulties of his profession, religion, love, and the disconnect his creativity felt from his profession.
The book does not include Kappus' letters; it is left to our imagination. We get 10 letters from Rilke to young Kappus, advising him on the validity of art, being authentic, living through difficult feelings, and, primarily, seeking refuge in solitude.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
If you're someone who strives for the authenticity of self, believes in looking inward rather than keeping up with the world, and embraces aloneness and loneliness, this book is for you.
"...your solitude will expand and become a twilight space, where the noise of other people passes far in the distance."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
On being asked to critique the poems of Kappus, Rilke clarifies what really matters. Followed by a brutally honest take on the poet's young age and lack of experience in life and love. I don't agree with all of his perspectives on young love but I took it as a contradictory but beautifully relayed perspective.
"A work of art is good if it has come to be from necessity. Its judgment lies in the manner of its origin, and in nothing else."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Anyone, no matter their age, feeling lost or asking the same questions to themself over and over will find some peace in Rilke's words.
"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to have love for the questions themselves, like locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
And if you think your job keeps you detached from your creative side:
"Whatever you, dear Mr. Kappus, must now undergo as an officer, you would have felt it just the same in any of the established professions, yes, even if you had merely sought some slight and independent contact with society, apart from any position, you would not have been spared this feeling of constraint."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Now the part where I agree with Rilke, and relate to his way of living, and yet hesitate to agree. Because aloneness is important to know self, and difficulties help us find answers. But difficulty itself is not the reason to do something. Actually, as I try to argue Rilke on this, I'm failing miserably.
"...it is good to be lonely, because loneliness is difficult; the difficulty of a thing must be one more reason for us to do it. To love is also good: because love is difficult."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
My favourite passage (from Letter 8):
"You have had many and great sorrows that have passed. And you say that even this passing was difficult and disturbing for you. But please consider: have not these great sorrows rather passed right through you? Has much not changed for you, and have you not been anywhere, at any point for your being, transformed while you were sad?"
" If only it were possible for us to see farther than our knowledge reaches, and even a little past the far reaches of our foresight, perhaps we would endure our sorrows with greater trust than our joys."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"We must accept our reality as widely as is possible; everything, even the unprecedented, must be possible in it. At bottom, that is the only courage demanded of us;..."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Perhaps everything terrifying is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants help from us."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
I'm not sure I understand Rilke's take on gender, women. Sometimes when I read his lines, I think he gets it and see him as a forward-thinking liberal. Other times, I'm sceptical. Two reads are probably not enough to comprehend so I will read again.
Franz Xaver Kappus was a 19-year-old military officer with a penchant for poetry. He wrote to the famous poet Rilke about the difficulties of his profession, religion, love, and the disconnect his creativity felt from his profession.
The book does not include Kappus' letters; it is left to our imagination. We get 10 letters from Rilke to young Kappus, advising him on the validity of art, being authentic, living through difficult feelings, and, primarily, seeking refuge in solitude.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
If you're someone who strives for the authenticity of self, believes in looking inward rather than keeping up with the world, and embraces aloneness and loneliness, this book is for you.
"...your solitude will expand and become a twilight space, where the noise of other people passes far in the distance."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
On being asked to critique the poems of Kappus, Rilke clarifies what really matters. Followed by a brutally honest take on the poet's young age and lack of experience in life and love. I don't agree with all of his perspectives on young love but I took it as a contradictory but beautifully relayed perspective.
"A work of art is good if it has come to be from necessity. Its judgment lies in the manner of its origin, and in nothing else."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Anyone, no matter their age, feeling lost or asking the same questions to themself over and over will find some peace in Rilke's words.
"...have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to have love for the questions themselves, like locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
And if you think your job keeps you detached from your creative side:
"Whatever you, dear Mr. Kappus, must now undergo as an officer, you would have felt it just the same in any of the established professions, yes, even if you had merely sought some slight and independent contact with society, apart from any position, you would not have been spared this feeling of constraint."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Now the part where I agree with Rilke, and relate to his way of living, and yet hesitate to agree. Because aloneness is important to know self, and difficulties help us find answers. But difficulty itself is not the reason to do something. Actually, as I try to argue Rilke on this, I'm failing miserably.
"...it is good to be lonely, because loneliness is difficult; the difficulty of a thing must be one more reason for us to do it. To love is also good: because love is difficult."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
My favourite passage (from Letter 8):
"You have had many and great sorrows that have passed. And you say that even this passing was difficult and disturbing for you. But please consider: have not these great sorrows rather passed right through you? Has much not changed for you, and have you not been anywhere, at any point for your being, transformed while you were sad?"
" If only it were possible for us to see farther than our knowledge reaches, and even a little past the far reaches of our foresight, perhaps we would endure our sorrows with greater trust than our joys."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"We must accept our reality as widely as is possible; everything, even the unprecedented, must be possible in it. At bottom, that is the only courage demanded of us;..."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Perhaps everything terrifying is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants help from us."
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
I'm not sure I understand Rilke's take on gender, women. Sometimes when I read his lines, I think he gets it and see him as a forward-thinking liberal. Other times, I'm sceptical. Two reads are probably not enough to comprehend so I will read again.