Advent Calendar Day 7 🎄 “Letters to a young poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke

Dear Rainer Maria Rilke,

I have just finished your Letters to a young poet and naturally, I feel that a letter of my own is the most appropriate way to express my thoughts at this moment. Would I be wrong in saying that I identified in a way with young Franz Kappus ? Maybe not, especially since he was born on my side of the Carpathians, many moons ago. But I think that what touched me the most in your train of thought appeals to the universal creator inside of me. 

I don’t label myself as a writer, or as a filmmaker, not a photographer either, not anymore at least, but I do consider myself a creator. That comes in different forms and expressions, and mostly with the same set of doubts that all creators experience. I suppose that is the reason your words resonate so strongly.

I can only imagine what your world looked like, and what was considered good, healthy social behaviour. The contrast with today’s standards is, in my imagination, quite radical, and that makes your words all the more powerful. 

“What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours—that is what you must be able to attain.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Your words are music to the ears of an introvert, especially one living in a world where social interaction is viewed as the solution to everything, and solitude the greatest danger of all. Balance is certainly the key, as you so eloquently express in many of the letters, yet I admit that your incentive to develop and consolidate one’s inner world is, to my eyes, the greatest gift of your letters to the world. 

The peace, the serenity that rises from your words is like a balm for sensitive souls. I must confess my hesitation in approaching your other writings, since I am afraid. Yes, afraid of finding in them something less than this bubble of comfort you have provided for Franz, for me, for all of us. 

I’m writing this in the days before Christmas, so please allow me this little whim, and wherever you might find yourself, in spirit, receive my most grateful sentiments.

Your faithful admirer,
Alexandra