Letters to a Young Poet
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilkeby Rainer Maria Rilke
Shares rank 3 of 10 essay collections by recommenders
Recommended as a very succinct book of advice for young poets, and a good one on its subject.
Recommended as a very succinct book of advice for young poets, and a good one on its subject.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Very succinct
“I really loved Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet! Very succinct.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” Good book on its subject
“is a good one on the subject”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Loneliness at 19, How to Cope?”
Other essay collections people recommend
The four most recommended other essay collections, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slouching Towards Bethlehemby Joan Didion | 8 | 1 | 89% | 3 | — | — |
| Why I Writeby George Orwell | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Letters to a Young Poetby Rainer Maria RilkeThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Paul Graham essays | 5 | 7 | 42% | 3 | — | — |
| Metamagical Themasby Douglas Hofstadter | 4 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I really loved Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet! Very succinct.”
“thanks for the recommendation”
“the only way to get better at it”
“is a good one on the subject”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.