Necessity
“Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see
whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart;
confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden
to write.
This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour
of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And
if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question
with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with
this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most
indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then
come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to
say what you see and feel and love and lose...
...Describe your
sorrows and desires, the thoughts that pass through your mind and your
belief in some kind of beauty - describe all these with heartfelt,
silent, humble sincerity and, when you express yourself, use the Things
around you, the images from your dreams, and the objects that you
remember. If your everyday life seems poor, don’t blame it; blame
yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call
forth its riches; because for the creator there is not poverty and no
poor, indifferent place. And even if you found yourself in some prison,
whose walls let in none of the world’s sounds – wouldn’t you still have
your childhood, that jewel beyond all price, that treasure house of
memories? Turn your attentions to it. Try to raise up the sunken
feelings of this enormous past; your personality will grow stronger,
your solitude will expand and become a place where you can live in the
twilight, where the noise of other people passes by, far in the
distance. - And if out of this turning-within, out of this immersion in
your own world, poems come, then you will not think of asking anyone
whether they are good or not. Nor will you try to interest magazines in
these works: for you will see them as your dear natural possession, a
piece of your life, a voice from it. A work of art is good if it has
arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.”
-- Rainer Maria Rilke
