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Last weekend, I went to see “Jojo Rabbit�� with my husband. I laughed so hard, and then I ugly-cried. Needless to say, I loved the movie, and I was very struck with the final frame, which showed a quote from one of Rilke’s most famous poem, “Go to the Limits of Your Longing��:

“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final."

We had to stay behind while I composed myself as the credits rolled, because out of nowhere, that quote hit me like a sucker punch. I’ve had a weird, emotional month, and I really needed to read those words �� but they also turned on the waterworks. Fucking poets. I got back home and dug out the only thing by Rilke that I have in my library, an itty-bitty little collection of his correspondence with an aspiring poet, aptly titled “Letters to a Young Poet��. I bought it after reading “The World of Yesterday�� (/review/show...), in which Zweig praises Rilke as the best thing since sliced bread and I was curious.

Have you ever been terrified of a book? Like you put on your desk or wherever, and then you stare it down, to try and convince it NOT to shred you to ribbons if you work up the courage to crack it open. I sort of did that with “Letters to a Young Poet��.

“OK, Mr. Rilke, we have to make a deal here; I’ll read what the blurb describes as your life-changing advice to aspiring writers, but you have to promise me I won’t be a sobbing mess at the end!��

I wasn't a sobbing mess by the end, but I found myself wishing this book had found its way in my hands when I was much, much younger. I wished I had read Rilke's words about love and loneliness and endurance before I had been familiar with heartbreak, and crippling feelings of abandonment. I think they would have helped a lot.

Despite what the title of this collection might lead one to believe, there isn't much advice here about writing per se. More advice about living, which will eventually trickle down into writing. The gentle intimacy of the letters, the incredible kindness Rilke put into his advice to Franz Kappus in and of itself is deeply moving, inspiring and comforting. This man had a very great and precious mind, and we are lucky his words are still available to us.

It goes without saying that the prose is beautiful, elegant and lyrical. I could have spent the whole day copying down quotes from it, but it's only 50 pages, so go read it for yourself! I'll certainly be reading it many more times. Excuse me while I go to my favorite bookstore and buy all their Rilke. Fucking poets.

(For the record, it's 4 stars instead of 5 because it is too short! I wanted much, much more of those letters, much much more of the kind words of advice.)


“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”��