Letters to a Young Poet remains nothing short of secular scripture for the creative life, replete with Rilke’s wisdom on what books do for our inner lives, the life-expanding value of uncertainty, what it really means to love, and how great sadnesses bring us closer to ourselves. Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters written by Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke to Franz Xaver Kappus , a 19-year-old officer cadet at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. Published in 1929, Letters to a Young Poet (Briefe an einen jungen Dichter) by classic German poet Rainer Maria Rilke is a post-humorous manifesto on the creative life.It was collected three years after Rilke’s death from leukemia by the recipient of the letters, Franz Xaver Kappus, who was 19 and at a military university when he first wrote to the poet asking whether his poems were any good. I want to thank you for the great confidence you have placed in me. Directed by Richard Story. These ten letters revealed the heart and soul of Rilke himself, and all were full of wisdom about finding what you are passionate about in life and living true to that vision. Your letter arrived just a few days ago. But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn't write at all). Kappus retained the letters, which were composed between 1902 and 1908, and then had them published in 1929, three years after Rilke’s death. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke – review Very good advice from on high Nicholas Lezard. The letters were originally written to Franz Xaver Kappus, who was 19 and at a military university when he first wrote to the poet asking whether his poems were any good. The ten letters collected here are arguably the most famous and beloved letters of our century. Written when Rainer Maria Rilke was himself still a young man with most of his greatest work before him, they are addressed to a student who had sent Rilke some of his work, asking for advice about becoming a writer. Published in 1929, Letters to a Young Poet (Briefe an einen jungen Dichter) is a collection of letters written by the famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Letters to a Young Poet [The First Letter] - Paris17 February 1903My dear sir, - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. Photograph: [Public Domain] Wikimedia Commons Look to your own self for guidance. Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke, is a gem of a book.It consists of ten letters written to a young man who wrote to Rilke for advice on how to become a successful poet. Three years after Rilke’s death, Kappus assembled and published the letters entitled, Letters to a Young Poet (Briefe an einen jungen Dichter) in 1929. With Scott Belway, Todd Witham, Sabrina Sella. Paula Modersohn-Becker, Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke, the son of an Austrian army officer, had studied at the academy's lower school at Sankt Pölten in the 1890s.