Section 3 Summary and Analysis

Letter 4 - "Worpswede, near Bremen (Germany), July 16, 1903" This letter begins with another reference to Rilke having been ill, and having traveled to another climate in order to further his healing process. He also describes the weather, which is cold and cloudy, and refers to the Young Poet's letter as bringing light into his day. He urges the Young Poet, who has in Rilke's words expressed a "beautiful anxiety" about life, to embrace solitude and loneliness, suggesting that both offer opportunities for him to go deeply into himself and gain greater insight and understanding of Nature (see "Quotes," p. 33). He also urges the Young Poet to embrace his questions and celebrate them, rather than focus on the absence of answers, since life and art are both composed of both questions and answers, neither of which is more or less valuable than the...