Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of letters written by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke to an aspiring poet Franz Xaver Kappus, a 19-year-old military cadet at Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. Kappus wrote letters to Rilke to seek advice on his poetry. Even though Rilke avoided commenting on his work directly, he did give some general advice to him. Published in 1929, Letters to a Young Poet gives an insight about poetry, subtle observations required by a poet and the mysterious workings of the human heart. Rilke s advice to the young poet also reflects his sensitive observations of cruelty around him and his efforts to seek love, comfort, and truth in a complicated and treacherous world.

About the Author

Rainer Maria Rilke was an Austrian poet born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary on December 4, 1875. Rilke is considered one of the most intense writers in German who produced both poetry and prose. His famous works include a semi-autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910), poetry collections Duino Elegies (1923) and Sonnets to Orpheus (1923) and a collection of letters printed under the title Letters to a Young Poet (1929). Rilke s work has been characterised as existential and invokes images that describe anxiety, scepticism, and loneliness. For this reason, Rilke s work is often given a transitional position between the traditional and the modernist writings. Rilke died of leukaemia on December 29, 1926, in Vaud, Switzerland.