Between the years 1903 and 1908, Rilke wrote a number of letters to Kappus and helped teach the young man about his desire to become an established poet.  The book, Letters to a Young Poet, is a fascinating publication of not only Rilke’s letters, but an account of the famous poet’s life and his own relationships during this time.

It is suggested that Rilke’s poems, which were often “delicate depiction(s) of the workings of the human heart”, contained a note of sympathy in them and that is why poets other than Kappus also felt comfortable in writing to him. What they received in return was an honest and earnest response to their inquiries. 

Here is one excerpt from Rilke’s letter to Kappus, in which he voices his opinion as to whether someone is, in fact, an artist.  It was written in Paris on February 17, 1903.

“A work of art is good if it has sprung from necessity.  In this nature of its origin lies the judgment of it: there is no other.  Therefore, my dear sir, I know no advice for you save this: to go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create.  Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it.  Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist.  Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside…

...But perhaps after this descent into yourself and into your inner solitude you will have to give up becoming a poet; (it is enough, as I have said, to feel that one could live without writing: then one must not attempt it at all).  But even then this inward searching which I ask of you will not have been in vain.  Your life will in any case find its own ways thence, and that they may be good, rich and wise I wish you more than I can say.”

Kappus went on to publish these letters in the book, Letters to a Young Poet.

Do you know of other books that help guide aspiring writers and poets?  Which writers have directly or indirectly helped yourself in your own life and relationships?

Also, to see an example of one of Rilke’s poems, please see today’s A Poem A Day: Love Song.