Letters to a Young Poet

In fourth term AP English my students read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. After this cheery read, I have them read selections from Ranier Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet because the letters are filled with inspiration and wisdom.

You must pardon me, dear Sir, for waiting until today to gratefully remember your letter of February 24: I have been unwell all this time, not really sick, but oppressed by an influenza-like debility, which has made me incapable of doing anything.

Some of it might be deemed sentimental and I am sure that some of my seniors feel that way when they read the letters, but more than a few I hope are quietly struck with insights that are very relevant to their time of life.

And finally, since it just didn't want to improve, I came to this southern sea, whose beneficence helped me once before. But I am still not well, writing is difficult, and so you must accept these few lines instead of your letter I would have liked to send.

This year I only had time for one letter, and I didn't even bother to talk much about Rilke or the circumstances of the letters. I just had them read letter two.

Of course, you must know that every letter of yours will always give me pleasure, and you must be indulgent with the answer, which will perhaps often leave you empty-handed;

My assignment is based on this passage:

Irony: Don't let yourself be controlled by it, especially during uncreative moments. When you are fully creative, try to use it, as one more way to take hold of life. Used purely, it too is pure, and one needn't be ashamed of it; but if you feel yourself becoming too familiar with it, if you are afraid of this growing familiarity, then turn to great and serious objects, in front of which it becomes small and helpless. Search into the depths of Things: there, irony never descends - and when you arrive at the edge of greatness, find out whether this way of perceiving the world arises from a necessity of your being. For under the influence of serious Things it will either fall away from you (if it is something accidental), or else (if it is really innate and belongs to you) it will grow strong, and become a serious tool and take its place among the instruments which you can form your art with.

I like them to discuss their understanding of irony, not as an artist would per se, but as a function of personality. We talk about sincerity and "sarcasm as a tool for the weak."

This year, however, one student wanted more information on the letters. I got the feeling she was going to go find them and read them. I like this student a lot, because she has a genuine intellectual curiosity. But I like her best I realized then, because she isn't a local. She's a Serbian refugee who has lived on three continents.

I chatted with her after, before the seniors left for the year, and I gave her readings on Third Culture Kids and the rest of the Letters. She told me she wasn't going to the prom because she felt no real connection to many friends or the school. I hoped she'd find some insight in the readings, and inspiration in the Letters.

I looked back through the letter # 2 to find what else might have touched her.

for ultimately, and precisely in the deepest and most important matters, we are unspeakably alone; and many things must happen, many things must go right, a whole constellation of events must be fulfilled, for one human being to successfully advise or help another.