接下来让我们看第二封信，这封信篇幅较短，或许是Rilke在当时得到了类流感疾病，除了晚回覆外，内容也和第一封信不同风格，简洁有力。第二封信有两个段落，他谈到创作时不要被反讽法支配之外，也提到他常携带在身的书以及从谁身上体会到艺术的深奥，对想要找创意及艺术相关参考读物的朋友们可以参考。
一开始扣回到第一封信提到的：没有人可以提供帮助或建议。这里继续说明，Rilke尽管对于收到回信感到开心，但同时他也知道自己的回覆不见得能让年青人受益，为什么呢？因为最终在最核心重要的事物上，我们是孤独的。 （深层体会是不可言语及不可替代的）当一个人能够帮助或建议另一人，那必须背后许多的要件都要发生并符合了，所谓的帮助或建议才成立。
Of course, you must know that every letter of yours will always give me pleasure, and you must be indulgent with the answer, which will perhaps often leave you empty-handed; for ultimately, and precisely in the deepest and most important matters, we are unspeakably alone; and many things must happen, many things must go right, a whole constellation of events must be fulfilled, for one human being to successfully advise or help another.
接着来谈不要被反讽法支配这件事，这边的反讽意思正负面兼具，如同Rilke在信中提到的，端看自己使用反讽法时的心态而定。当你具有创造力时，试着去使用它，拓展你的表达方式；反之就要去深思这种表达方式是否是源自你内心的一种需要。 （回扣到第一封信的“I must”）若想要远离过度使用反讽法的境地，请试着转向伟大和严肃的事物上，在那里，反讽法相形之下显得渺小。若反讽法真源自于你内心需要，在伟大和严肃的事物里，它会变成你正式的工具，并在你的艺术手法里占有一席之地。
・反讽法怎么使用，意思又是什么，想了解的朋友请点这里（维基百科）跟这里（辞典解释）。
Irony: Don’t let yourself be controlled by it, especially during uncreative moments. When you are fully creative, try to use it, as one more way to take hold of fife. Used purely, it too is pure, and one needn’t be ashamed of it; but if you feel yourself becoming too familiar with it, if you are afraid of this growing familiarity, then turn to great and serious objects, in front of which it becomes small and helpless. Search into the depths of Things: there, irony never descends and when you arrive at the edge of greatness, find out whether this way of perceiving the world arises from a necessity of your being. For under the influence of serious Things it will either fall away from you (if it is something accidental), or else (if it is really innate and belongs to you) it will grow strong, and become a serious tool and take its place among the instruments which you can form your art with.
最后一段是Rilke分享他常携带在身上的好书，以及他引以为师的两个艺术家。第一本书是圣经，还有Jens Peter Jacobsen写的Six Stories（故事集）及Niels Lyhne（小说），尤其Six Stories的第一篇Mogens。他是这样描述两本书的：「一个完整的世界将在你面前展现，幸福、丰富及不可思议的伟大蕴含其中。请在这两本书亲身体会，去学你觉得值得学的，但最重要的是你爱它们。这种爱会回馈你千千万万次，不论你人生将会如何。我确信它将会贯穿你整个人生，在你所有经验、失落与喜悦交织而成的生命中，作为你最重要人生脉络之一存在。」
他最后推荐了两位艺术家，分别是Jens Peter Jacobsen（诗人）与Auguste Rodin（雕塑家），从他们身上，Rilke体会到关于创造力的本质，其深奥及永恒的地方。前者他称为「伟大的诗人」，后者他尊称为「当时无人能出其右的雕刻家」。
Of all my books, I find only a few indispensable, and two of them are always with me, wherever I am. They are here, by my side: the Bible, and the books of the great Danish poet Jens Peter Jacobsen. Do you know his works? It is easy to find them, since some have been published in Recalm’s Universal Library, in a very good translation. Get the little volume of Six Stories by J. P. Jacobsen and his novel Niels Lyhne, and begin with the first story in the for mer, which is cared “Mogens." A whole world will envelop you, the happiness, the abundance, .the inconceivable vastness of a world. Live for a while in these books, learn from them what you feel is worth learning, but most of &U love them. This love will be returned to you thousands upon thousands of times, whatever your life may become – it will, I am sure, go through the whole fabric of your being, as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys.
If I were to say who has given me the greatest experience of the essence of creativity, its depths and eternity, there are just two names would mention: Jacobsen, that great, great poet, and Auguste Rodin, the sculptor, who is without peer among all artists who are alive today.
・对两位艺术家有兴趣的朋友，请点以下参考资料连结：
1. Jens Peter Jacobsen’s Quotes
4. Auguste Rodin Wikiquote（更詳盡的創作資料）
说到沉思者这件艺术品，相信大家都唤起了对Auguste Rodin的记忆，其写实的雕塑手法及雕塑人物在动作中隐含的情感令人印象深刻。
第二封信也圆满达成啦，咱们下一封信再会。
