Letters to a Young Poet

2011 Reprint of 1945 London Edition.Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software.Letters to a Young Poet is a compilation of letters by Rainer Maria Rilke. It consists of ten letters written to a young man considering entering the German military. 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 majority of the letters address personal issues that Kappus revealed to Rilke; their span is tremendous, ranging from atheism, loneliness, sexuality, and career choices.