一位彷徨的年轻诗人Franz Kappus把自己的诗交给一位他认可的诗人Rilke，希望Rilke能够给他一些建议。 在他们的书信往来里，可以发现这是在诗人路上有经历的长辈对于刚踏入这圈子的年轻人给予的一些建言，我发现里尔克并不是针对细微末节的书写问题给意见，而是站在朋友的立场，在处事、思考上给原则性的指标。 两人在五年间的书信往来一共有十封，当时的Rilke正值27岁，而Franz是刚成年的19岁青年诗人，对于想成为艺术家的人，或是想在忙碌生活中保有自己的人，这些信是很不错的参考读物。
在信的一开始，Rilke感谢年青人对他的信任，把自己写的作品寄给他评论。 接下来他说，我不能讨论你的诗，原因是这样的：
Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings.
因为批评本身并不能触及艺术的核心，同时也可能产生误解。 Rilke继续写道：事物并不总是有形并能用言语表达的，很多时候这些只可意会的经验存在于我们的日常生活里。
有了这个大前提，接下来他指出年青人作品里没有他自己的个人特色，虽然试着加入技巧，让诗本身有旋律，但内容本身是不足的。
Your kind letter, which accompanied them managed to make clear to me various faults that I felt in reading your verses, though I am not able to name them specifically.
看到这里我想，Rilke写过诗集并出版，当时却说自己不能具体指出他在年轻人的诗里看到的错误，那么接下来他还要写什么内容呢？ 为什么他要这样说？ 继续往下看，他写：年青人阿，你问我你的诗有什么好的地方，你送诗到出版社被拒绝时你很难过，甚至和其他诗比较。 我请求你一件事情， 观照你自己的内心 。 没有人可以建议你或帮忙你，向外求答案是你最该避免的。
You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself.
那我们要怎么去深入观察自己呢？ Rilke给我们一个方向：
This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must", then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse.
在夜深人静的时候询问自己，我必须做这件事吗？ 如果答案是简单而坚毅的 “I must"，那么就把自己的所有投注在这件事上，即便是在最寻常及最琐碎的时候也要充分体现这样的决心。
有了这样的决心，接下来还需要什么来充实诗的内容，也就是说，怎么表达个人的特色呢？
Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose. Don't write love poems; avoid those forms that are too facile and ordinary: they are the hardest to work with, and it takes a great, fully ripened power to create something individual where good, even glorious, traditions exist in abundance. So rescue yourself from these general themes and write about what your everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your belief in some kind of beauty Describe all these with heartfelt, silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you remember.
试着去写所见所闻，所爱的，以及失去的。 不要写爱情诗，去避免太流行与普通的格式，这是最困难的，因为你需要强大而熟练的能力在已经有许多佳作的领域里去表达个人的想法。 所以试着让自己从这样的境地解脱：去写你的悲伤和渴望，那些在你脑海里流动的思想，和你对美的一种信仰。 所有这些都打自内心，寂静谦卑的真诚，当你表达自己的时候，使用围绕在你周遭的东西，在梦里出现的影像，还有你记忆里的事物。
如果生活真的没什么可写了，要怎么办？ 还是有些可以挖掘的地方，不要去责怪为什么生活如此贫瘠，对创造者而言没有所谓贫乏与贫瘠，那是自己还不足以成为一个诗人去发现生活的丰盛。
If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
即便你在远离喧嚣的监狱里，可我们仍然有如珍宝般的童年，回忆的宝库，把思绪转向这里。 将过往潜伏已久的情绪唤醒，你的性格会成长茁壮，你的孤独会扩张成一个让你能生活在暮光之下的地方，在那里，其他人的喧嚣只是在远处经过而已。
And even if you found yourself in some prison, whose walls let in none of the world's sound – wouldn't you still have your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention to it. Try to raise up the sunken feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger, your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the distance.
从自己内心世界产出的，这样来的诗，你不会去想问任何人它好或不好。 你不会试着用这些诗让杂志社感兴趣，因为你会看到它们是你亲爱的天然产物，是你生活的一部份，也是来自里面的声音。 一件艺术品如果是从必要性产出的，那就是好的，这是我们唯一可以判别的方法。 （这里的必要来自于先前向自我寻求解答时得到的 “I must" ）
And if out of , this turning within, out of this immersion in your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.
事情回到了源头，Rilke又说了一次，他只能建议年青人不断探索内心深处，认识自己，找到只有自己才知道的答案，然后：
Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature, to whom his whole life is devoted.
接受这个答案，如同它给你的，不要试着干预它。 或许你会发现你是天生要做艺术家的人，那就接受你的命运，去承接它的重负和伟大。 永不去追求可能会从外界来的奖项。 对一个奉献一生的创造者而言，自我即成世界，在他和他所连接的自然里可以得到任何东西。 不过Rilke并不假设年青人会是诗人，他说，如果你问自己之后觉得不是的话，那我请你探索自己也并非是徒劳，你仍然可以为自己的生命找到出口。 并祝福年青人之后的路更好，更丰盛，更宽广。
But after this descent into yourself and into your solitude, perhaps you will have to renounce becoming a poet (if, as I have said, one feels one could live without writing, then one shouldn't write at all). Nevertheless, even then , this self searching that I ask of you will not have been for nothing. Your life will still find its own paths from there, and that they may be good, rich, and wide is what I wish for you, more than I can say .
还有什么可以写的呢？ 还有一个建议，在你的发展过程中安静地，认真地持续成长。 没有比向外看和等待外来的答案更能伤害自己的，你的问题，在你最深处的情感，在你最沉静的时刻，也许可以给你解答。
What else can I tell you? It seems to me that everything has its proper emphasis; and finally I want to add just one more bit of advice: to keep growing, silently and earnestly, through your whole development ; you couldn't disturb it any more violently than by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to questions that only your innermost feeling, in your quietest hour, can perhaps answer.
我们会好奇，年青人怎么会想要找Rilke寻求建议，往下看可以发现，原来是因为教授Horacek在中间引线。 教授看到年青人阅读Rilke的诗集，告诉了他一些关于他曾经的学生的故事，于是自然而然地这位面对未来职涯还不确定的年青人将诗寄给了前辈，请他提点。 幸运地我们才看到了这十封信，虽然篇幅短，却能打中人心的文章。
It was a pleasure for me to find in your letter the name of Professor Horacek; I have great reverence for that kind, learned man, and a gratitude that has lasted through the years. Will you please tell him how I feel; it is very good of him to still think of me, and I appreciate it.
Dennis Hopper曾经为这封信朗读，是我在Youtube众多版本里很喜欢的，分享给大家：
Dailymotion位址，Youtube位址
自己也用零碎时间录了这封信，以上面为目标，希望自己念的有情感些，还有可以加强的地方，但想分享给大家： Click here。
这一封信到这里结束啦，咱们下一封信再见。