Section 6 Summary and Analysis

Letter 8 - "Borgeby gard, Fladie, Sweden" August 12, 1904 From its opening lines, this letter urges the Young Poet to examine his response to undefined sadnesses in his life. Rilke urges him to consider these sadnesses as opportunities to learn, to discover new truths and new experiences within himself—sadness, he writes, is a response to a loss, and where there is loss there is also the opportunity for something new to come in (see "Quotes," p. 83). He further suggests that sadness is in fact an opportunity to look forward to the future—when the new aspect of life manifests, when that which fills the sadness-inspiring void appears, "we will feel related and close to it in our innermost being." This, he writes, is a necessary part of the human experience —"...what we call fate does not come into us...