Perspective

The author of the Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, was an established, well reputed poet himself when the letters were written. The book's Introduction, however, describes him as being only twenty-seven at the time the first letter was —not even ten years older than the Young Poet to whom the letters are addressed. The Introduction also comments that Rilke was, in both his life and his work, at a point of transition. This suggests that many of the ideas and beliefs Rilke refers to in his letters are perhaps transitional thoughts of his own, understandings reached as the result of deep contemplation of his own transitory experiences. In other words, he is writing from the perspective of his own spiritual and creative experiences and understandings, both lived and considered. His reasons for writing are therefore simultaneously simple and complex. He writes these letters firstly...