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."
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Letters to a Young Poet: (Penguin Classics)
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Not in kindle format, photocopied from a library book
Don’t buy this version of ‘Letters to a young Poet’ just because it’s the cheapest. It is scanned/photocopied from a physical book and does not format like a kindle book. Amazon Kindle stores needs to be clamping down on accounts that make ‘kindle books’ like this a removing them from the store. I’m sure the original text of the book is great, and I look forward to reading it in either properly formatted kindle book or hard copy.
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2014
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- Miss T. NguyenReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011
Letter's to a young poet
