Rainer Maria Rilke

Rainer Maria Wilke was an outstanding poet highly respected and admired by so many of his comtempories but virtually unknown by the general reading public of his day. Part of the reason behind this was his writing in the German language which put up literary barriers in the public eye, he also moved to live in Germany during the war which would have been almost unforgivable in those days. Very little of his romantic love letters have been retained but we take the opportunity to present this extract of one such love letter written to his wife. This extract is largely occupied on the subject of what is love and the factor that young people can not really know love until they have lived it for some time.