So, if you are a young poet—or simply a young human—put down the phone tonight. Pick up this tiny blue book. And let Rilke walk you home to yourself.
He isn't romanticizing misery. He is saying that the voice you need to listen to is the one that only speaks when you are alone.
Letters to a Young Poet is not a self-help book. It won't give you ten steps to happiness. In fact, it might make you more uncomfortable with the shallowness of your daily life. cartas a un joven poeta rainer maria rilke
Rilke’s most famous advice is also his most radical: “If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.”
We spend billions of dollars a year trying to escape loneliness. We scroll, we date frantically, we work late, we numb. Rilke says: Stop running. “Love your loneliness and bear the pain it causes you with a simple, soft song.” He understood that loneliness is the price of originality. If you are always surrounded by the noise of the crowd, you can only ever think the crowd’s thoughts. The artist—and by extension, anyone trying to live an authentic life—must guard their solitude like a fragile animal. So, if you are a young poet—or simply
If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed by the news, or simply stuck in the performance of adulthood, here is why this 120-year-old book still stings.
But it will give you something better: Permission. He isn't romanticizing misery
Permission to be slow. Permission to be unsure. Permission to be lonely without being broken. Permission to trust that the ache you feel is not a sign that you are doing life wrong, but that you are, perhaps for the first time, doing it right.
