Comparing Letters To A Young Poet

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell is a story of a teenager named Jason who writes poetry, and Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke is the story of an experienced poet who gives advice to a young poet looking for some advice. In both stories, ideas of beauty are introduced and developed, and while the idea of “beauty stems from within” are the same, their developments are very different. While some differences are small, these differences create a different mood in the overall presentation of the central themes. These changes in development style showcase each author's literary prowess, but even with all these changes in style and mood, the central idea of beauty still remains the same in each story.

In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by

In recent years, I been losing a passion when it came to art. It began to feel like I stopped trying to experiment and improve due to fears of criticism. I had tried to write stories again around this time, but uncertainty was beginning to have a hold on me. Then we started reading Rilke’s letters and at first I enjoyed that fact that a writer was seeking advice from someone he admired and was receiving it. This was likely due to my nature of not asking anyone for advice due to some terrible experiences in the past. As such, while diving into the reading I took some of Rilke’s advice to heart and tried to find why I draw or write. There I found that both shared the same reason: I wanted to get the ideas got from my head and onto something. And for that, I am thankful for this reading.

The world has several great poets and numerous mind-blowing works, each with its own way of portraying its own message using symbolism to represent lessons of everyday life. Jane Flanders wrote the poem named “Cloud Painter” she shows the world from an artistic way, using a painter and his canvas to help the reader picture the true meaning behind the words and images created. Robert Frost takes on the same idea, but uses a less complex example so that it makes his work easy to understand while not revealing the actual meaning of the poem. Frost and Flanders are just two of the many poets that use nature as a way of explaining the very lessons in life. Each poet has a different way of presenting similar images but from a different perspective. Poems are short stories that have a meaning behind them without revealing them in obvious ways. Although some are confusing and may use a different style there are a few that present the same message even if they are written by a different poet. “Cloud Painter” written by Jane Flanders uses the clouds and other subjects of nature. Such as trees and the hills. to help the reader picture the true meaning behind her poem. Robert Frost's poem by the name of “Nothing Gold Can Stay” also takes the nature route to convey the point of his poems words and their Each has a unique way of creating an idea that most can relate to emotionally and physically.

After a complete analysis of “Beauty” by Tony Hoagland, there are multiple ways he succeeds in writing a meaningful poem. Each of the literary devices used played an important role in perfecting his poem. Hoagland did an excellent job at sending a message and his tone played an important role in making the message more sincere. Hoagland's use of imagery, figurative language, and personification made his poem more entertaining to read. Throughout this poem, Tony Hoagland shows that beauty, along with poetry, goes deeper than the

Rilke finds beauty within many things and such as beauty comes from within and beauty in everyday. Rilke writes back to Kappus an aspiring young poet looking for criticism. Rilke explains how you can

After writing from within, Rilke says Kappus will see his poetry as, “[his] dear natural possession, a piece of [his] life…”(2). These phrases establish a strong emotional connection with one’s writing, suggesting to the reader that Rilke has a passionate tone. Rilke continues his letter by explaining to Kappus what to do if it is his true calling to be a poet. Rilke says to, “take the destiny upon [him]self, and bear its burden and its greatness…”(3). Rilke using the word “destiny” shows that he believes that one’s life must be consumed with writing poetry if they feel it’s their calling, which shows he is passionate about it. The words “burden” and “greatness” convey that art is a serious way of life and one should take full responsibility for all of the ups and downs one would experience living this way. This further establishes that Rilke believes that living a life that revolves around art is a grave decision that a person should make very carefully, therefore showing that Rilke is passionate about poetry and art in this half of his letter. Rilke also becomes friendly with Kappus when giving his closing remarks at the end of his letter. He tells him that a full life is, “what [he] wish[es] for [him]”(3). This phrase shows that Rilke becomes more friendly towards Kappus, completely opposite to his callous nature at the start of his letter. Moreover, Rilke is also more comfortable with Kappus; he has more of a connection with him. This is simply shown by the use of the rhetorical question, “What else can I tell you?”(3). The use of a question conveys a more informal tone, which someone would use if they were conversing with a friend. Because of this, the reader can come to the conclusion that Rilke is more friendly with Kappus at this point in his letter. In the very last sentence of his letter,

The two short stories “Black Swan Green” written by David Mitchell and “Letters To A Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke both share a common central idea. In both stories, there is a mentee looking for advice from their mentors. The mentees have a passion for poetry and are aspiring poets. The mentors inform their mentees that someone who wants to be a poet should get their motivation from natural aspects. For one thing, It’s your natural beauty that makes you who you are as a person and a poet. Poetry is for yourself, your thoughts and ideas, not an audience.

     They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As stated in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Poetic Principle," a concept of beauty can only be achieved through the use of emotion, an "excitement of the soul," a necessary element to any worthwhile poem (Poe 8). Poe's fascination with the mystery of death and the afterlife are often clearly rooted in his poems and provide a basis for himself and the reader to truly experience his concept of beauty. Although also a believer in portraying beauty through poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson found beauty to be eminent in nature and all things created by the Oversoul. Beauty for Emerson is not an idea or unknown, it is visible all around him.

In the first letter, Rilke cautions Kappus against turning to outside sources for advice, “you ask whether your verses are any good … you send them to magazines, you compare them to other poems, and you are upset when certain editors reject your work” (Rilke 5). Seeking others to interpret his own poems was a mistake for Kappus, and an abuse of outside sources. Criticism is an aspect of society that combines straightforward words, meaningless connotation, and negative judgement into a harmful concoction of all that is to be avoided in branching out of solitude. Finding the middle ground between blocking out every other voice to accepting criticism is important in the journey of a poet. Rilke’s letters themself are proof of this middle ground. Rilke warns against criticism in the beginning of his first letter, stating that it only results “in more or less fortunate misunderstandings,” yet then goes on to offer his own ideas on Kappus’s work in a fashion that may seem

The two poems “Pied Beauty” and “Design” have many similarities in their imagery. Both of these poems contain natural imagery in great detail, and the imagery focuses on the unusual things about nature. A vivid example from “Beauty” is “I found a dimpled spider, fat and white” (Frost 1). ¹ This quote describes the appearance of the spider that is one of the characters that Frost includes in this poem. An example from “Pied Beauty” is “For skies of couple-color as a brindled cow” (Hopkins 2). ² Hopkins is painting a picture of what he believes is beautiful in nature, which includes a

In all of Rilke’s poem that I have read he uses beautiful imagery too capture his poems, ranging from nature to the very heavens, in sonnet twenty-two it is no different. When Rilke portrays, “energies of test and light,” it isn’t a mental picture but it is a description of a human’s strength and capabilities (Rilke 10-11). The tests and lights of man are what wear us down and we should be weary because if we focus all our energy what will we have left? Another type of imagery he uses to convey a powerful message is when he explains that all is basically meaningless including, “the darkness, the brilliantly luminous, the flower, the book,” (Rilke 13-14). I believe that in this lies a deeper meaning than four different words. The darkness and luminous represent the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, life and death. As an existentialist life, death, the afterlife it did not matter because you lived for the now and took care of yourself and then the dark that came with death one had to embrace with open arms. The flower very clearly represents nature. Yes, of course nature is beautiful, yes it provides for us but in the end, will we not all become flowers, just dirt in the ground for worms to eat up. And finally, “the book” I truly do believe this means religion and it is put at the end of the poem for a reason. The Bible is the most important book of all mankind Rilke is purposely calling it a book and at the end

During his lifetime, Rilke had acquired a way of looking at things. He was able to see everything clearly. His experience of life made him remarkably observant. He used all those experiences and memories he collected throughout his life in his writing. It was his experience of life and his way of looking at things that made him such a great poet. It was only because of his way of looking that he was able to translate what he saw and experienced into human language. His works do not need any introduction as they speak of themselves. He was truly a poet of life who wrote so extensively on the subjects of life, death and love. People who were acquainted with him were happy at the thought that they knew such a great poet. This is one reason that he continued to get patronage from aristocratic families. They felt themselves to be blessed with his friendship. And, therefore, he was able to continue his work properly.

Widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets, Rainer Maria Rilke was unique in his efforts to expand the realm of poetry through new uses of syntax and imagery and in the philosophy that his poems explored. With regard to the