From: "Letters to a young poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke > If, as a result of this turning inward, of this sinking into your own world, poetry should emerge, you

From: "Letters to a young poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke > If, as a result of this turning inward, of this sinking into your own world, poetry should emerge, you will not think to ask someone whether it is good poetry. And you will not try to interest publishers of magazines in these works. For you will hear in them your own voice; you will see in them a piece of your life, a natural possession of yours. A piece of art is good if it is born of necessity. This, its source, is its criterion; there is no other.