Rainer Maria Rilke | Letters to a Young Poet | Existentialist Philosophy & Literature

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In this lecture, I discuss Rainer Maria Rilke's short but very rich work, Letters to a Young Poet, a series of ten deeply reflective letters Rilke writes over a roughly 5-year period to a younger man who is entering the military profession, but who aspires to be a poet.

In the course of the Letters, Rilke articulates an understanding of personal development, advocating and describing what he calls "solitude," and cautioning against falling into "convention" or stifling one's growth by taking easy paths rather than undergoing the difficult growth that patience and time make possible. He ranges over a number of other topics, including Nature, Things, what poetry is and requires, what to make of sex, what love requires, childhood, time, and how to understand God.

2:20 - overview of the text and general themes
11:00 - the situation of Rilke as a poet, giving advice to a possible poet
21:00 - solitude, the most central theme
44:14 - development of oneself as a person, avoidance of falling into convention and easy paths
1:05:25 - Rilke on Things, God, sex and love

Видео Rainer Maria Rilke | Letters to a Young Poet | Existentialist Philosophy & Literature канала Gregory B. Sadler