Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke and translated by Stephen Mitchell, has easily found its place amongst my top three favorite books, joined by Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson and a pending place for Catcher in the Rye (due for a redemption re-read but rivaled by Every Man by Phillip Roth). In a series of letters to a young poet coming of age who decides to pursue a job as an officer alongside his creative endeavors,  Rilke contemplates not only what it means to be an artist but speaks on every part of the human condition. Self-expression, relationships, adulthood, and provides a whimsical lens which we can view the world through. Each letter is a meditation on prompts of which the reader has no knowledge, but nonetheless possesses an insightful evaluation of what it means to be a poet and really, a human. Only a 100 page read in a small paperback, the letters demand to be carried and turned over, again and again. While aiming to be practical, Rilke's advice is nothing short of beautiful either.

The first mark of a poet is the compulsion to create. If you feel you simply must, then you’ve arrived. He says, "build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse”. There is often the overlooked discipline of artists, but there is an immense sacrifice to make even when the tools of creation are words. To see the world as a sonnet takes sensitivity that stings when it comes across scorn of any kind.  There are so many post-mortem anthologies released from the greats, who could not take the cruelness of the world battering their fragile hearts. Criticizing or comparing your means of self-expression is a hard no, as Rilke advises strongly against it. Looking outward for validation for a personal means of expression is contradictory. No one else has had the same culmination of experiences which could have led to that particular means of expression. The best thing to do is to look inwards, “describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty-- describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, images from your dreams, and the objects you remember”.