Rilke Rainer Maria Rilke Wrote

Rilke

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote ten letters to a young poet. He acted as the young man's mentor. He helped guide his career. Rilke was not afraid to say what he thought. He gave the young man a lot of advice. This advice was probably very helpful to the young poet.

In Letter 1, paragraph three, Rilke gives the young man a lot of advice about how to improve his poetry. The advice is not simple. He does not tell the young man what structure is best. The advice is much more complicated. He tells the young man that he has to get to know himself very, very well. But he also tells him specific things he can do to find what he is looking for. He gives some advice that is surprising. He tells the young man not to try to get his poems published in magazines or other places. This is hard to understand. Most artists would like to make a living from their art. How will he have an income if he does not sell his poems? This suggestion might come from Rilke's dislike of literary criticism. If the poet sends his poem to a magazine but the magazine does not take it, then in a way the magazine has criticized him. And maybe the magazine just didn't understand his poetry or was looking for something simpler, or on a different topic. Rilke seems to be saying that if he sells his poetry he will be too influenced by what other people want in poetry. He seems to think that this is a time when the young poet should focus on what he wants his poetry to be like.

In Letter 3, paragraph 5, Rilke warns him about literary criticism again. He tells him to just not read it and to concentrate on good literature. This is probably good advice. Critics look at someone else's work and say what they think it should have been. It might take a very strong writer to ignore comments like that and keep on doing what he wanted to do.

In Letter 7, paragraph 2, Rilke talks about a poem the young man has written. He follows his own advice and comments on it without being critical of it. In this paragraph he models a way that the poet might think about his own poems, or how he might think about what other people write.

These three paragraphs show Rilke's way of mentoring. He makes suggestions about what to read. He makes suggestions about how to learn about himself. He makes suggestions about what to read, and even what not to read. But he never does what the poet asked for first. He doesn't analyze the poet and tell him exactly what he should do or should not do. Instead, he helps the young man find his way himself.