Introduction

In 1902 a nineteen-year-old military cadet, Franz Kappus, sent a few of his poems to Rilke and asked for his advice. To his surprise Rilke replied, and over the next five years wrote him ten letters. Rilke says almost nothing about the poems; instead he speaks of the poet's life and solitude: 'Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you write... ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write?' He urges patience and tells the young man to 'love your solitude', not to rush for answers: 'be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves'; perhaps one day you will gradually, without noticing it, 'live along some distant day into the answer'. He writes too of love, sex, sorrow and art. After Rilke's death Kappus published the letters. This slim book has become a bedside companion for young people all over the world.