Why is this little book important?. Because it allows us to read what Rilke thought about many subjects, for example life, poetry, and art. And because, as F. X. Kappus said, "when a prince is going to speak, silence must be made".

Kappus wanted to share the insights that Rilke gave him, and thus compiled his missives in "Letters to a young poet". The letters are few, and not overly long, but in this case the knowledge offered is certainly greater than the number of pages.

It is easier to show you what I mean by giving you an example... For instance, what Rilke's advices Franz to do, when he tells him 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".

On the whole, I highly recommend this book to everybody. It will probably be more useful to aspiring writers, but people who simply enjoy literature will delight in it too :)

Belen Alcat


Images so beautiful it hurts.   June 19, 1999
 15 out of 19 found this review helpful

A simply beautiful book. I highly recommend it to those who love the written word.


The book that can change a way of living   April 8, 1999
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

A friend gave it to me when I was 18, and after all this years, I think that it is the best gift someone has done to me. After reading all it, I found that it was all marked that there were too many things to understand, to keep on mind, to keep on an special place of the mind. Things that are said, can help to look the life in a new form, more delightfull... looking all the details that are lost when you past them quickly.


My way of looking at life was changed   April 8, 1999
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I read this book when I was 18. A friend of mine recomended it to me. It was a great surprise from the first line. I read it in an afternoon, and could not forget it. All the phrases of advice were as if they had been written to me, as if my fears and lonely thoughts were there answered, in a poetic way, in a different way of looking at the things...giving importance to little things that usually are lost in this way of rapid movement