--- product_id: 254751542 title: "Letters to a Young Poet" price: "HK$98" currency: HKD in_stock: true reviews_count: 7 url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/254751542-letters-to-a-young-poet store_origin: HK region: Hong Kong --- # 4.6/5 star acclaimed classic Compact 16.1 x 11.1 cm size 64 pages of timeless wisdom Letters to a Young Poet **Price:** HK$98 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📖 Unlock the secrets of a poetic mind—because your next great insight deserves a classic. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Letters to a Young Poet - **How much does it cost?** HK$98 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/254751542-letters-to-a-young-poet) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Perfectly Portable:** Slim 64-page paperback fits effortlessly into your daily commute or coffee break. - • **Top-Ranked Inspiration:** Ranked #2 in Literary Essays & Correspondence—join the elite readers. - • **Timeless Literary Treasure:** Dive into Rilke’s profound letters that have inspired generations. - • **Instant Intellectual Upgrade:** Elevate your perspective on love, creativity, and life’s challenges. - • **Curated for the Reflective Mind:** Penguin Classics edition ensures quality and authenticity. ## Overview Letters to a Young Poet is a compact 64-page paperback published by Penguin Classics, featuring Rainer Maria Rilke’s deeply reflective letters on writing, love, and life. With a 4.6-star rating and a top rank in Literary Essays & Correspondence, this UK edition is a must-have for millennials seeking timeless wisdom in a portable format. ## Description 'What matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now.' This title features profound and lyrical letters the author wrote to a young friend with advise on writing, love, sex, suffering and the nature of advice itself. Review: Rilke, my darling. - I read this in a train on a December midnight. Reflective. I love Rilke. A lovely collection of letters. Eccentric, yet comforting. Review: Rilke shows us the light amidst darkness - I want to give it 10 stars and thanks to desertcart for delivering the book at a very reasonable prize within one day of order .Now about the book it's a rare gem that explains life's most valuable lessons in the most celebrated ways .While every line is like reading a masterpiece, these lines will live with me for ever . THAT IS WHY LIFE DOES NOT CEASE TO BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT WILL NOT CEASE TO GROW .As if Rainer still exist with us . ## Features - Binding : paperback - Pages : 64 - Publisher : Penguin Classics ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #508 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Literary Essays & Correspondence | | Customer reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,162) | | Dimensions | 16.1 x 0.5 x 11.1 cm | | Edition | UK ed. | | ISBN-10 | 0241252059 | | ISBN-13 | 978-0241252055 | | Item weight | 53 g | | Language | English | | Print length | 64 pages | | Publication date | 3 March 2016 | | Publisher | Penguin Classics | ## Images ![Letters to a Young Poet - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61CWI5oey6L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rilke, my darling. *by P***S on 16 July 2023* I read this in a train on a December midnight. Reflective. I love Rilke. A lovely collection of letters. Eccentric, yet comforting. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rilke shows us the light amidst darkness *by N***I on 18 October 2022* I want to give it 10 stars and thanks to Amazon for delivering the book at a very reasonable prize within one day of order .Now about the book it's a rare gem that explains life's most valuable lessons in the most celebrated ways .While every line is like reading a masterpiece, these lines will live with me for ever . THAT IS WHY LIFE DOES NOT CEASE TO BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT WILL NOT CEASE TO GROW .As if Rainer still exist with us . ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I'm pleased that you are out there in some harsh reality and remain solitary and courageous." *by M***R on 28 July 2011* "Letters to a Young Poet," newly translated by Mark Harman and published by Harvard University Press, is one of only three hardback editions solely devoted to Rilke's ten letters to Franz Kappus. One, with a translation by Joan M. Burnham ( Letters to a Young Poet ), has been criticized for compromising the beauty of Rilke's prose. The other is a Modern Library edition featuring a widely praised translation by Stephen Mitchell, which you can find at this link: Letters to a Young Poet (Modern Library) . Both Harman and the elder Mitchell are well respected for their craft. From what I've read of reviewers who understand the nuances and challenges of translating German to English, these two men have produced probably the best available translations of this work in English. If you don't want to buy a cheaper paperback version of "Letters to a Young Poet" (maybe because you predict the work will become an enduring addition to your personal library), or if your purchase is intended as a gift, here are some points to help you decide between these two excellent choices. Both books, as physical objects, are attractively made, printed on good quality paper, sturdily constructed to stand the tests of time. The Harvard University Press edition has attributes of a well-made book: its boards are fully cloth covered (the Modern Library book is half-cloth), and its page signatures are stitch-sewn. If you spread open the book at pages 64-65, for example, you'll see connecting thread running down the center, which helps the book lay flatter than the glued binding of the Modern Library book. But the Modern Library edition is a full one inch larger vertically (to see this size difference, please see the "customer photos" I've posted, linked to in the upper left corner of this Amazon page). The text of the Mitchell translation is printed in noticeably larger type than that of Harman, which for some readers will mean more comfortable reading experience. Mitchell supplies only a brief introduction to his translation, while Harman's introduction, at 20 pages, is longer than even the longest of Rilke's ten letters. Befitting its academic imprimatur, the Harvard edition includes an Index, although I'm not fully convinced of its utility. For example, consider this famous passage in Letter VIII as rendered by Harman: "How could we possibly forget those old myths that arise at the origin of all peoples, the myths about dragons, who at the point of greatest extremity transform themselves into princesses; perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses, who are merely waiting to see us just once as beautiful and courageous. Perhaps everything terrible is in essence only the helplessness that is seeking our help." If, months after finishing the book, you want a second look at that charmed observation and so turn to the Index for help, you'll come up empty handed. There's no listing for "dragons" or "princesses." Two more examples: throughout the letters Rilke comments on the season of spring, and he writes about pregnancy both as actuality and as metaphor; but "spring" and "pregnancy" are also missing from the Index. And yet, if you want to gain a sense of what these ten letters are all about, it's a revealing exercise to scan the Index and pick out the entries pointing to the most page references: Art, Childhood, Creativity, Doubt, Gender, God, Inspiration, Love, Nature, Patience, Questions, Sex, Solitude, and Sorrows. Is it by chance this alphabetical arrangement forms a kind of rough "life-stages of man" sequence -- an arc that doubtless would have pleased the poet? Maybe what this should remind us is that it is the enduring content of the letters themselves that matters most. To partake of Rilke's spirit, you really can't go wrong with either presentation of these "Letters to a Young Poet." ## Frequently Bought Together - Letters to a Young Poet: Little Black Classics (Penguin Little Black Classics) - White Nights - Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast (Penguin Little Black Classics) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hk/products/254751542-letters-to-a-young-poet](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/254751542-letters-to-a-young-poet) --- *Product available on Desertcart Hong Kong* *Store origin: HK* *Last updated: 2026-07-07*