Rilke was one of the most significant poets in the German language his work often focuses on an individual’s yearning for communion with one’s innermost self, written at a time when mankind was plagued with nihilistic and chaotic interpretations of the world.
He decided to contact an alumnus of the academy, the Austrian poet, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). Over the course of their correspondence, Rilke’s responses imply that Kappus has matured and has managed to apply their conversation to his everyday life, ultimately indicating that Kappus saw Rilke as a mentor and took his advice to heart.At the turn of the last century, a 19-year-old student at the Military Academy of Vienna, named Franz Kappus, wanted career advice on his impending secondment to the armed forces, as well as a literary critique on a handful of poems he had recently composed. In his final letter, Rilke says he’s glad to know that Kappus has been stationed by the military in a place full of solitude and quiet, where the young poet can spend time with his thoughts. Later, when Kappus complains that he feels a disconnect between his profession and his artistic sensibilities, Rilke tells him not to worry about that disconnect-he would feel isolated from his creative side in any job.
But Rilke tells him to simply keep tabs on how his job impacts his life as a poet. Judging by Rilke’s comments about the beginnings of Kappus’s profession as a military officer, it seems that Kappus himself was unsure whether or not he really wanted to pursue such a career, worrying that it wouldn’t give him enough time to write and lead the life of an artist. Nonetheless, Rilke’s responses suggest that Kappus wrote to the older poet about a wide array of topics, including his own poetry, loneliness, religion, doubt, and love. Letters to a Young Poet includes an introduction by Kappus but not the letters he sent to Rilke. He was 19 when he decided to write a letter to Rainer Maria Rilke, whose poetry he greatly admired. Franz Xaver Kappus was an Austrian writer and military officer.
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