mitchellhb 's review for:

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

4.0

---

My wife and I used some lines from one of these letters at our wedding, so I have quite a soft spot for this book. I don't completely agree with Rilke's philosophy of the creative life—my writing depends a great deal on engagement with the world, whereas he tends to advocate insularity and psychological withdrawal from society—but I'm fully in accord with the core of his advice: that some solitude and constant interior questioning are necessary to produce truly satisfying personal art. If it's not as universal to me as it apparently is to some people, it still is fascinating as a brief, beautifully written look at Rilke's own creative mind and worldview.