Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet (1929) remains one of his most popular works. In it, Rilke dispenses advice on art, love, life, and how to be a poet in ten intensely emotional letters to a former student of one of his own teachers.

Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke (1995), translated by Stephen Mitchell and released by Modern Library, provides a good introduction to Rilke's work.

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910) is Rilke's only novel. Malte Laurids Brigge is a Danish nobleman and poet living in Paris, who is obsessed with death, his family, and the city.

Rilke has been a major influence on contemporary poets, such as Mark Strand. Strand's Selected Poems was released in 1990.