# Letters to a Young Poet

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet/9780141960470

![Letters to a Young Poet](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet_978-01-4196-047-0.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2001%3A45%3A11)

- Book: [Letters to a Young Poet](https://www.bookquiver.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet) ([Letters to a Young Poet.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/rainer-maria-rilke/letters-to-a-young-poet.md))
- Authors: [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://www.bookquiver.com/rainer-maria-rilke)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-01-4196-047-0
- Published: 2011-04-07
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

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 writers and artists of all kinds. This book also contains the 'Letter from a Young Worker', a striking polemic against Christianity written in letter-form, near the end of Rilke's life. In Lewis Hyde's introduction, he explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. Charlie Louth's afterword discusses the similarities and contrasts of the two works, and Rilke's religious and sexual wordplay. This edition also contains a chronology, notes, and suggested further reading.