Letters to a Young Poet

The collected letters of Rilke to one Franz Kappus, a student of the same Military Academy Rilke had attended years prior, contain some of the plainest and most poetic advice ever delivered to an aspiring writer. Case in point, in response to Kappus's question if his verses were good: “Nobody can advise you and help you,” Rilke writes, “nobody. There is only one way. Go into yourself.” Full of wisdom and truth, the collection of these letters is a remarkable gift.