Academic 10.1.2.2

What advice does Rilke give the young poet on pages 5–6 (from “You ask whether your verses are any good” to “a sign and witness to this impulse”)?

• Rilke advises the young poet to stop “looking outside” (p. 5) himself by sending his poems to magazines and other people and comparing them to other poems he sees. Rilke believes the young poet should stop doing this because “[n]o one can advise or help [him]—no one” (p. 6).
• Rilke advises the young poet that he must go into himself to find out what makes him want to write and “confess” (p. 6) to himself; if not, writing is the same as dying for the young poet. If the young poet “must” write, then the poet must “build [his] life” around his need to write, meaning the young poet will have to focus every part of his life on writing.

How does Rilke’s advice to the young poet to “[g]o into” himself develop an important idea?

Rilke’s advice that “no one can advise or help” (p. 6) the young poet in writing his verses suggests that Rilke believes beauty comes from within.

How does Rilke refine this idea through the image of the roots?

• Rilke refines his advice to the young poet about looking within to understand why he writes by suggesting that the “reason that commands you to write” (p. 6) may lie deep inside a writer. Because roots are what keep a plant alive and in the ground, Rilke uses the image of the “roots” (p. 6) to suggest how important and necessary this reason is in the person’s life.
• The image of the “roots” (p. 6) refines Rilke’s idea that writing must come from within because it expresses how crucial it is for a writer’s reason to write comes from “the very depths”(p. 6) of the heart and not from “looking outside” (p. 5) at what other people think and believe.

What kinds of poems does Rilke believe the young poet should avoid? Why?

The young poet should avoid “love poems” and poems that have forms that are too common or stereotypical, forms which Rilke calls: “facile and ordinary” (p. 7). To write those kinds of poems well requires “fully ripened power” (p. 7), meaning the young poet cannot successfully write those poems without having developing further as a person and as a poet.

How does Rilke’s advice about the subject matter of poetry introduce and develop an important idea in the text?

Rilke’s advice introduces the idea that beauty lies in ordinary life. Rilke asks the young poet to find beauty in the ordinary. The young poet must create poems from his “everyday life” and the “Things around [him], the images from [his] dreams, and the objects [he] remembers” (p. 7), all things that come from the young poet’s daily life.

How does Rilke’s advice to the young poet on pages 7–8 develop his ideas about the role of the creator?

Rilke’s advice suggests a creator does not believe in “poor, indifferent place[s]” (p. 8), meaning there is no part of life without meaning or importance. Everything in one’s life can be the subject matter of poetry.

How does Rilke’s use of metaphor to describe childhood develop his ideas about writing?

Rilke uses metaphor to describe childhood as “the jewel beyond all price” and a “treasure house of memories” (p. 8), meaning that childhood is incredibly valuable to a poet and full of memories and ideas out of which one can create poetry.

What does Rilke suggest will be the impact of the “turning-within” that he advises?

• Rilke believes that if the younger poet turns to his childhood feelings his “solitude will expand” (p. 8), meaning the poet’s inner life will become richer, enabling him to go into himself to create art.
• Rilke believes that if out of “this turning-within” (p. 8) comes poetry, then the younger poet will not care what others think of his work, because it will come from deep within the poet.

How does Rilke’s discussion of childhood further develop an important idea in the text?

Rilke’s discussion of childhood further develops the idea that beauty lies within, because the young poet must create poems by “turning-within” (p. 8) to things deep inside him, like his childhood, which Rilke calls the “jewel beyond all price” (p. 8).

How does Rilke use figurative language to develop an important idea in this passage?

Standards:

• RI.9-10.3
• L.9-10.5.a
• RI.9-10.4

Learning Target:

• I will be able to...
• Identify an important idea in the text
• Analyze how Rilke uses figurative language to develop this idea

Lesson Agenda

• Homework Accountability
• Reading and Discussion
• Quick Write
• Closing

Homework Accountability

Quick Write & Closing

Reading and Discussion

Read pages 5–7 of “Letter One” from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (from “You ask whether your verses are any good” to “from your dreams, and the objects that you remember”) and answer the following questions:

Talk in pairs about how you applied the focus standard, RL.9-10.3 or RI.9-10.3, to your AIR texts.

Respond briefly in writing to the following prompt:

• How does Rilke use figurative language to develop an important idea in this passage?
• Identify an important idea in the text
• Analyze how Rilke uses figurative language to develop this idea

• Use this lesson’s vocabulary wherever possible in your written responses.
• Use the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to guide your written responses.

Form pairs and read pages 7–9 of “Letter One” from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (from “If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it” to “That is the only way one can judge it”) and answer the following questions

Write a paragraph in response to the following prompt:

• Where, according to Rilke, should the poet find beauty?
• Use this lesson’s vocabulary where possible in your written responses. Use the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to guide your written responses.

Continue to read your Accountable Independent Reading text through the lens of focus standard RL.9- 10.3 or RI.9-10.3 and prepare for a brief discussion on how you applied this standard to your text.

• Take out your responses to the previous lesson’s homework assignment.
• Turn-and-Talk in pairs about what you discovered about Rainer Maria Rilke’s life.