Between 1903 and 1908, Franz Xaver Kappus, a young man under twenty, sent Rilke his poetic essays, hoping Rilke's advice. Kappus wrote to different people: to an unknown postal worker; to a village priest whom he had met on the bus. Rilke will write ten magnificent letters to the young man, which constitute a manual for life and a hymn to one's vocation.
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was born in Prague and is considered one of the most important poets of the 20th century. He treated many artists of his time (Tolstoy, Cézanne, Zuloaga, Rodin, etc.). His fundamental works are the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus. Of colossal sensitivity, he speaks of women, death and love, loneliness and beauty, with an originality that remains until today.