Works of art are of an infinite loneliness – Rainer Maria Rilke
Letters to a Young Poet, Rainier Maria Rilke’s poignant series of letters to the fledgling poet Franz Kappus, is a veritable well of reflective musings, earnest meditations, and brilliant illuminations. That so much wonder and wisdom can be distilled in such concentrated terms, is something of an enigma. The generosity of spirit, the openhearted humanity that weaves through Rilke’s words are a renewable source of solace for the introspective mind. The tender words belie a message that is startling in its implications: seek solitude, use loneliness as a conduit for growth, and make a friend of fear.
Letters to a Young Poet is a salve for the lost: Rilke confronts pain with a luminously transcendent tone. However, the work is hardly self help lite. It is challenging, nuanced, and demands attention and care from the reader. It does not provide a passive learning experience. Truthfully, it warrants multiple reads, and must be tended to and reflected upon. Below are some fragments from Letters to a Young Poet that will offer an immersion into his most compelling ideas.
