{"product_id":"letters-to-a-young-poet-isbn-9780141192321","title":"Letters to a Young Poet","description":"\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eRilke’s powerfully touching letters to an aspiring young poet.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 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 generations of writers and artists of all kinds, including Lady Gaga and Patti Smith. With honesty, elegance, and a deep understanding of the loneliness that often comes with being an artist, Rilke’s letters are an endless source of inspiration and comfort. Lewis Hyde’s new introduction explores the context in which these letters were written and how the author embraced his isolation as a creative force. This edition also includes Rilke’s later work \u003ci\u003eThe Letter from the Young Worker\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e For more than 80 years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.\"The common reader will be delighted by Stephen Mitchell’s new translation of that slim and beloved volume by Rilke, \u003cb\u003eLetters to a Young Poet\u003c\/b\u003e . . . the best yet.\"\u003cbr\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRainer Maria Rilke\u003c\/b\u003e (1875–1926) studied literature, art history, and philosophy in both Munich and Prague and is often considered one of the German language's greatest twentieth-century poets. His two most famous verse sequences are the \u003ci\u003eSonnets to Orpheus\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eDuino Elegies\u003c\/i\u003e; his two most famous prose works are \u003ci\u003eLetters to a Young Poet\u003c\/i\u003e and the semiautobiographical \u003ci\u003eThe Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharlie Louth\u003c\/b\u003e is a fellow at Queen's College, Oxford, where he lectures in German. He is the author of Hölderlin and the Dynamics of Translation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLewis Hyde\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the hundred-million-copy bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Gift\u003c\/i\u003e. A MacArthur fellow and former director of undergraduate creative writing at Harvard University, Hyde is a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Gambier, Ohio.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePENGUIN CLASSICS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLETTERS TO A YOUNG POET\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRAINER MARIA RILKE, one of the finest and most widely read poets of the twentieth century, was born in Prague in 1875. He published a great deal of verse early on, which is now little read, but with \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Images\u003c\/i\u003e (1902), \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Hours\u003c\/i\u003e (1905), and especially \u003ci\u003eNew Poems\u003c\/i\u003e (1907 and 1908), he established himself as the major poet writing in German at the time. He married in 1901 and had a daughter, but abandoned family life almost immediately. In 1910 he published his only novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge\u003c\/i\u003e, which draws in part on his own experiences of Paris, where he went in 1902 to write a short and brilliant book on Rodin (\u003ci\u003eAuguste Rodin\u003c\/i\u003e, 1903). Despite travelling widely, Paris was the main geographical pole in Rilke’s life until the First World War, when he was stranded in Munich. From there, after the war, he moved to Switzerland, completing the \u003ci\u003eDuino Elegies\u003c\/i\u003e in 1922, which he had begun ten years before, and receiving the “dictation” of the \u003ci\u003eSonnets to Orpheus\u003c\/i\u003e. After this, while living in the French-speaking Valais, he wrote more in French than in German, and published \u003ci\u003eVergers suivi des Quatrains Valaisans\u003c\/i\u003e a few months before his death from leukaemia at the end of 1926. After his death a lot of important uncollected poetry gradually emerged, as well as two further collections in French. The publication of his enormous correspondence, still not complete, began with the appearance of \u003ci\u003eLetters to a Young Poet\u003c\/i\u003e in 1929.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHARLIE LOUTH WAS born in Bristol in 1969. He is a Fellow of The Queen’s College, Oxford, where he lectures in German. His translations of Friedrich Hölderlin’s \u003ci\u003eEssays and Letters\u003c\/i\u003e (with Jeremy Adler) appeared in Penguin Classics in 2009.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLEWIS HYDE is a poet, essayist, translator and cultural critic with a particular interest in the public life of the imagination. His books include \u003ci\u003eThe Gift\u003c\/i\u003e (1993), \u003ci\u003eTrickster Makes This World\u003c\/i\u003e (1998) and \u003ci\u003eCommon as Air\u003c\/i\u003e (2010). The former director of undergraduate creative writing at Harvard University, Hyde teaches during the fall semester at Kenyon College, where he is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing. During the rest of the year he lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTo access Penguin Readers Guides online,\u003cbr\u003evisit our Web site at www.penguinclassics.com.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLETTERS TO\u003cbr\u003eA YOUNG\u003cbr\u003ePOET\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp;\u003cbr\u003eTHE LETTER\u003cbr\u003eFROM THE\u003cbr\u003eYOUNG\u003cbr\u003eWORKER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRAINER MARIA RILKE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTranslated, Edited and\u003cbr\u003ewith Notes and an Afterword by\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHARLIE LOUTH\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIntroduction by\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLEWIS HYDE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1875\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e4 DECEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Rilke born prematurely in Prague and christened René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria. His parents belong to the German-speaking minority in Bohemia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1882\u003c\/b\u003e Rilke’s education begins at a school run by Piarists.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1884\u003c\/b\u003e His parents, Josef and Sophie (Phia), move into separate flats.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1886\u003c\/b\u003e Enters the Military Lower School at St Pölten in Lower Austria.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1890\u003c\/b\u003e Moves up to the Military Academy in Mährisch-Weisskirchen (present-day Hranice), a school also attended a few years later by the novelist Robert Musil. By now Rilke is writing poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1891\u003c\/b\u003e Poorly and unhappy in Mährisch-Weisskirchen, Rilke quits and moves to the Academy for Trade and Commerce in Linz. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSEPTEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Publishes his first poem. Reading Tolstoy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1892\u003c\/b\u003e Leaves the Linz Academy without qualification and returns to Prague to study privately for his Matura (school-leaving certificate). Reading Goethe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1894\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNOVEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Publication of his first collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eLeben und Lieder\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eLives and Songs\u003c\/i\u003e), which he later disowned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1895\u003c\/b\u003e Having gained his Matura in July (with distinction), matriculates at the University of Prague, attending lectures on art history, literature and philosophy. Busy in the literary world, and writing plays and prose as well as poems. \u003ci\u003eLarenopfer\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eOfferings to the Lares\u003c\/i\u003e) appears just before Christmas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1896\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSEPTEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Quits Prague for Munich, where he studies art history. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDECEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Publishes \u003ci\u003eTraumgekrönt\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eCrowned with Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1897\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMAY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Meets and pursues Lou Andreas-Salomé, and in June withdraws with her to a country retreat outside Munich. Transforms his hand-writing, and at her suggestion adopts the name Rainer. Over the next year writes a collection of poems to her, \u003ci\u003eDir zur Feier\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eTo Celebrate You\u003c\/i\u003e), which is never published. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOCTOBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Moves to Berlin and takes lodgings near Andreas-Salomé and her husband. Attends a reading by Stefan George in November and publishes \u003ci\u003eAdvent\u003c\/i\u003e in time for Christmas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1898\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMARCH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Returns to Prague to give a well-attended lecture on ‘Modern Poetry.’ Publishes the first of several volumes of stories. While in Florence keeps the so-called ‘Florentine Diary’ (published 1942). Back in Berlin with Andreas-Salomé, then spends Christmas with Heinrich Vogeler in Bremen and Worpswede.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1899\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAPRIL–JUNE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Journey to Russia, in the company of the Andreas couple. Visits Tolstoy and meets the painter Leonid Pasternak. Publishes \u003ci\u003eMir zur Feier\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eTo Celebrate Myself\u003c\/i\u003e) at the end of the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1900\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMAY–AUGUST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e More travels in Russia, alone with Andreas-Salomé. This journey was preceded by an intensive study of things Russian, including the translation of Chekhov’s \u003ci\u003eSeagull\u003c\/i\u003e. At the end of August accepts an invitation from Vogeler to Worpswede, where he meets Clara Westhoff and Paula Becker. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOCTOBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Returns to Berlin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1901\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFEBRUARY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Lou Andreas-Salomé breaks off relationship with Rilke by letter. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e28 APRIL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e He marries Clara Westhoff. They set up home in Westerwede, where a daughter, Ruth, is born on 12 December.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1902\u003c\/b\u003e In need of money, undertakes to write a monograph on the Worpswede artists. Also reviewing widely. In July \u003ci\u003eDas Buch der Bilder\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Book of Images\u003c\/i\u003e) appears (poems). \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAUGUST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Goes to Paris with a commission for a book on Rodin, leaving his daughter with Clara’s parents. Probably in November, writes ‘The Panther,’ the first of what will become the \u003ci\u003eNew Poems\u003c\/i\u003e. The book on Rodin is written by the end of the year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1903\u003c\/b\u003e First letter to Franz Xaver Kappus written on 17 February. Publishes \u003ci\u003eWorpswede\u003c\/i\u003e (February) and \u003ci\u003eAuguste Rodin\u003c\/i\u003e (March). Travels, but is mostly in Paris until September when with Clara he goes to Rome. Exchanges important letters with Lou Andreas-Salomé.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1904\u003c\/b\u003e In Rome until June, then to Sweden via Denmark. Begins work on his novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge\u003c\/i\u003e. All but one of the \u003ci\u003eLetters to a Young Poet\u003c\/i\u003e are written by the end of this year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1905\u003c\/b\u003e Mostly in Germany until September when he moves into Rodin’s house in Meudon, outside Paris. He works as a kind of secretary, dealing with Rodin’s correspondence. \u003ci\u003eDas Stunden-Buch\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Book of Hours\u003c\/i\u003e) appears at the end of the year, beginning Rilke’s association with the Insel Press. Its three parts had been written in 1899, 1901 and 1903.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1906\u003c\/b\u003e Lectures on Rodin in Hamburg and Berlin. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMARCH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e His father dies. After a misunderstanding with Rodin, moves into his own lodgings in Paris. Working hard on the \u003ci\u003eNew Poems\u003c\/i\u003e. In the summer travels in Belgium; then in Germany and Italy, ending up on Capri in December. Second, much-revised edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Images\u003c\/i\u003e appears. Also \u003ci\u003eDie Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Lay of the Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke\u003c\/i\u003e) in book form.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1907\u003c\/b\u003e Remains in Capri until the end of May. With the help of his host, Alice Faehndrich, translates Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s \u003ci\u003eSonnets from the Portuguese\u003c\/i\u003e (published 1908). Returns to Paris. Frequent visits to Cézanne retrospective exhibition on which he writes a famous series of letters to Clara (published in 1952). \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAUGUST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Writes nearly half the poems that will appear in the second volume of \u003ci\u003eNew Poems.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDECEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The first, \u003ci\u003eNeue Gedichte\u003c\/i\u003e, is published.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1908\u003c\/b\u003e Capri, Rome, Paris. \u003ci\u003eDer Neuen Gedichte anderer Teil\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eSecond Part of the New Poems\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDECEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Last letter to Franz Xaver Kappus.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1909\u003c\/b\u003e Working on his novel in Paris. Twice in Provence, impressions of which (especially Avignon) go much later into \u003ci\u003eThe Letter from the Young Worker\u003c\/i\u003e. Publishes \u003ci\u003eRequiem\u003c\/i\u003e, two elegies, of which one is for Paula Modersohn-Becker who died in childbirth late in 1907.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1910\u003c\/b\u003e The final pages of \u003ci\u003eDie Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge\u003c\/i\u003e) dictated in Leipzig; \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMAY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e The novel appears. This is followed by an unsettled period—travels in Italy, Bohemia, Austria, Germany, and, embarking in Marseille, Algeria and Tunisia, Sicily and Naples.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1911\u003c\/b\u003e The journey continues to Egypt and up the Nile. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAPRIL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Back to Paris via Venice. Visits Aristide Maillol. Meets Marthe Hennebert, probably the ‘Marthe’ of \u003ci\u003eThe Letter from the Young Worker\u003c\/i\u003e. Reading St Augustine, and translates first eighteen chapters of the \u003ci\u003eConfessions\u003c\/i\u003e; many other bits of translation besides. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJULY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e In Prague for the last time. Then Weimar, Leipzig, Munich. From late October in Castle of Duino on the Adriatic coast, as the guest of Marie von Thurn und Taxis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1912\u003c\/b\u003e While in Duino, where he remains until May, writes first two of what will become the \u003ci\u003eDuino Elegies\u003c\/i\u003e, plus other fragments. Spends the summer in Venice, then autumn and winter in Spain, mainly Toledo and Ronda.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1913\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFEBRUARY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Back in Paris. Travels in Germany in the summer, then in September is in Munich where he meets Freud, in the company of Andreas-Salomé. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOCTOBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e Returns to Paris. Reading Expressionist poets and Kleist. Finishes the third Elegy. Publishes \u003ci\u003eDas Marien-Leben\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eLife of Mary\u003c\/i\u003e), a sequence of thirteen poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1914\u003c\/b\u003e Paris remains his base until July. Reading Hölderlin. Is caught in Munich by the outbreak of war and cannot return to Paris. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDECEMBER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e In Berlin.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305389641957,"sku":"NP9780141192321","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780141192321.jpg?v=1767731375","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/letters-to-a-young-poet-isbn-9780141192321","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}