Letters to a Young Poet

Letters to a Young Poet

"Letters to a Young Poet" is a very influential compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke. It consists of 10 letters written to a young man considering entering the German military.

Background

The letters were originally written to Franz Kappus, a 19-year-old student at the Military Academy of Vienna, of which Rilke was an alumnus. Discouraged by the prospect of military life, Kappus began to send his poetry to the 27-year-old Rilke, seeking both literary criticism and career advice. Their correspondence lasted from 1902 to 1908. In 1929, three years after Rilke's death, Kappus assembled and published the ten letters.

The Letters

Although the first letter from Kappus asked for critiques of his poetry, Rilke gave him very little during their correspondence. He also discouraged Kappus from reading criticism, advising him to trust his inner judgment. Instead, the majority of the letters address personal issues that Kappus revealed to Rilke; their span is tremendous, ranging from atheism, loneliness, sexuality, and career choices.

The First Letter

Written in Paris, France on 17 February, 1903

The Second Letter

Written in Viareggio, Italy on 5 April, 1903

The Third Letter

Written in Viareggio, Italy on 23 April, 1903

The Fourth Letter

Written in Worpswede, Germany on 16 July, 1903

The Fifth Letter

Written in Rome, Italy on 29 October, 1903

The Sixth Letter

Written in Rome, Italy on 23 December, 1903

The Seventh Letter

Written in Rome, Italy on 14 May, 1904

The Eighth Letter

Written in Borgeby gård, Flädie, Sweden on 12 August, 1904

The Ninth Letter

Written in Furuborg, Jonsered, Sweden on 4 November, 1904

The Tenth Letter

Written in Paris, France on 26 December, 1908

References

* [http://www.carrothers.com/rilke_main.htm Online text source 1]
* [http://www.sfgoth.com/~immanis/rilke/letter1.html Online text source 2]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark — Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) is a deeply personal travel narrative by the eighteenth century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. The twenty five letters cover a wide range of topics, from… …   Wikipedia

  • LETTERS AND LETTER WRITERS — The letter holds an honored place in Jewish history and literature and includes diplomatic correspondence, state papers, and letters as vehicles of religious or secular literature and as a means of polemics in communal and spiritual matters,… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Letters of a Portuguese Nun — Infobox Book name = Letters of a Portuguese Nun title orig = Les Lettres Portugaises translator = image caption = First page of the first edition author = Gabriel Joseph de la Vergne, Comte de Guilleragues illustrator = cover artist = country =… …   Wikipedia

  • Letters of Obscure Men —    Satirical collection of imaginary letters supposedly addressed by several scholastic theologians and monks to Ortwin Gratius, a Cologne humanist who had supported the theologians and Dominican friars of Cologne in their efforts to prosecute… …   Historical Dictionary of Renaissance

  • The American Academy of Arts and Letters — is a 250 member organization whose goal is to foster, assist, and sustain excellence in American literature, music, and art. It is located in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, in New York, on a Beaux Arts campus that is… …   Wikipedia

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters — Audubon Terrace, the campus that the academy shares. The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 250 member honor society; its goal is to foster, assist, and sustain excellence in American literature, music, and art. Located in Washington… …   Wikipedia

  • Edward Young — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Young. Edward Young Activités Poète Naissance 1683 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters — Infobox University name = UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS Faculty of Arts and Letters established = 1611 University 1896 Faculty of Philosophy and Letters 1926 College of Liberal Arts 1964 Faculty of Arts and Letters (Absorption of the Liberal Arts… …   Wikipedia

  • Edward Young — (June, 1681(As stated in Rev. J. Mitford s Biography of Young) April 5, 1765) was an English poet, best remembered for Night Thoughts .Early lifeHe was the son of Edward Young, later Dean of Salisbury, and was born at his father s rectory at… …   Wikipedia

  • John Moray Stuart-Young — (1881 1939) was an English Uranian poet, memoirist, novelist and merchant trader. Born John James Young in the slums of Manchester, Moray Young was poorly educated and treated badly by those around him. Beaten by his laborer father, his mother… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”