Letters to a Young Poet

Rainer Maria Rilke’s powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet.    At the start of the twentieth century Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet advising him on writing love sex suffering and the nature of advice itself. These profound and lyrical letters have since become hugely influential for generations of writers and artists of all kinds including Lady Gaga and Patti Smith. With honesty elegance and a deep understanding of the loneliness that often comes with being an artist Rilke’s letters are an endless source of inspiration and comfort. Lewis Hyde’s new introduction explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. This edition also includes Rilke’s later work The Letter from the Young Worker. . For more than 80 years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1700 titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.