Rilke’s two pens

 Ulrich Baer says that Rilke had two pens. One was for poetry and fiction. The other was for other business, such as paying bills and writing letters.

This might be the simplest metaphor for the notion that there is more than one part or aspect to a person or personality. If the person is a writer, like Rilke, he must decide which parts will remain in the privacy of the notebooks and which will meet the public in published works.

I have been trying, without much success, to get a firmer grip on the notion that when we teach writing we usually start with craft of writing. As I’ve said before, the part of writing that interests me the most is the part that comes before the questions about craft.

What kinds of things come up before craft?

A writer has two pens. Which does he choose?

Which aspects of a personality are allowed to speak in tackling this piece of work? Which must remain silent?

• Ulrich Baer’s essay is in Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters on Life, which Baer edited and translated; New York: The Modern Library, 2006, p. vii.  For another stab at this topic, see “The other part of writing,” Aug. 17, 2026. It’s here:

https://hebertaylor.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-other-part-of-writing.html