Letters to a Young Poet

By: Rainer Maria Rilke, Charlie Louth - translator, Lewis Hyde - introduction

Narrated by: Dan Stevens, Max Deacon

Rilke's powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet, now available in a beautiful hardcover Penguin edition

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.

Critic reviews

"The common reader will be delighted by Stephen Mitchell’s new translation of that slim and beloved volume by Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet . . . the best yet."
--Los Angeles Times

A Chest of Treasures for any Artist

When I purchased this, I only knew I love the poetry of Rilke and that I had read many positive reviews of this compilation of his letters to a young poet.

I had no idea that this is a true chest of treasures. I purchased the Kindle version to go along with listening to this audiobook (the narration of which is outstanding). I kept placing bookmarks on the audible version and then highlighted the text in Kindle. This is quite a futile endeavor because, as I found, well over half deserves special emphasis.

I will share only my favorite quote, after saying that this book of letters, and particularly this translation into English, is worth a credit in my opinion for its encouragement of creativity and a love of life and for the testimonials from the great artists over the past decades who have been deeply and positively affected by these letters.

"... try, like the first human being, to say what you see and experience and love and lose. Don't write love poems; avoid at first those forms which are too familiar and habitual: they are the hardest, for you need great maturity and strength to produce something of your own in a domain where good and sometimes brilliant examples have been handed down to us in abundance. For this reason, flee general subjects and take refuge in those offered by your own day-to-day life; depict your sadnesses and desires, passing thoughts and faith in some kind of beauty--depict all this with intense, quiet, humble sincerity and make use of whatever you find about you to express yourself, the images from your dreams and the things in your memory. If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches, for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place."

Beautiful, one disappointment

This was my first "reading" of Letters to a Young Poet, so I can't compare it to other translations, but I thought it was absolutely beautiful. The narration is perfect--Dan Stevens is 100% engaged in the reading--I'll make a point to look for other titles he's narrated. The one disappointment for me if that I was very much looking forward to Lewis Hyde's introduction, which is actually not included.

Letters for a Young Poet

The writing is so beautiful and the man’s voice reading it was so perfect that I listen to this almost every night before bed.

An exquisite and refreshing literary work

I felt the amber of my my soul ignite with each utter word, I cannot imagine not knowing this work

Beautifully Read

Read with such feeling by Dan Stevens that I'd kill for performances of Rilke's other work.