Written between 1903 and 1908, these ten letters from Rainer Maria Rilke to the young aspiring poet Franz Xaver Kappus have become one of the most enduring meditations on creativity, solitude and patience. 

Rilke approaches writing as a way of attending to the world. His reflections move through love, sexuality, childhood, artistic doubt, the natural world and the necessity of being alone, returning repeatedly to the idea that meaningful understanding cannot always be hurried into existence. Throughout, he encourages Kappus to cultivate patience with the things he does not yet understand, and to recognise the value of questions that may remain unanswered for years.

Intimate, searching and remarkably generous in its attention, Letters to a Young Poet is as much for those attempting to understand their own lives as for those attempting to make art. A small book with a considerable intellectual and emotional afterlife.

W. W. Norton & Company, 2004 paperback reissue of the revised translation by M. D. Herter Norton. Good condition, with minor general shelf wear.