{"id":1299,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2013-12-03T19:29:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-04T03:29:08","slug":"08-the-character-of-english-poetry-1-vol-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/09-the-future-poetry-volume-09\/08-the-character-of-english-poetry-1-vol-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-08_The\u00a0Character\u00a0of\u00a0English\u00a0Poetry –\u00a01.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\nC<\/font>HAPTER<\/font> <\/span>VII<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

         The\u00a0 <\/span>Character<\/font><\/span><\/span>\u00a0
\n<\/span>of\u00a0 <\/span>English\u00a0 <\/span>Poetry<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>–\u00a0 <\/span>1<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

O<\/font>F ALL the modern European
\ntongues the English language, I think. It may be said without serious doubt;
\nhas produced the most rich and naturally powerful poetry, the most lavish of energy
\nand innate genius. The unfettered play of poetic energy and power has been here
\nthe most abundant and brought forth the most constantly brilliant fruits. And
\nyet it is curious to note that English poetry and literature have been a far
\nless effective force in the shaping of European culture than those of other
\ntongues inferior actually in natural poetic and creative energy. At least they
\nhave had to wait till quite a recent date before they produced any potent
\neffect and even then their direct influence was limited.<\/span><\/p>\n

A glance will show how considerable has
\nbeen this limitation. The poetic mind of Greece and Rome has pervaded and
\nlargely shaped the whole artistic production of Europe, Italian poetry of the
\ngreat age has thrown on some part of it at least a stamp only less profound,
\nFrench prose and poetry, – but the latter in a much less degree, – have helped
\nmore than any other literary influence to form the modern turn of the European
\nmind and its mode of expression, the short-lived outbursts of creative power in
\nthe Spain of Calderon and the Germany of Goethe exercised an immediate, a
\nstrong, though not an enduring influence, and the newly created Russian
\nliterature has been, though more subtly, among the most intense of recent
\ncultural forces. But if we leave aside Richardson and Scott in fiction and in
\npoetry the very considerable effects of the belated continental discovery of
\nShakespeare and the vehement and sudden wave of the Byronic influence, which
\ndid much to enforce the note of revolt and of a half sentimental, half sensual
\npessimism which is even now one of the strongest shades in the literary tone of
\nmodern Europe, – to the present day Shakespeare and Byron <\/p>\n

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are the only two
\ngreat names of English poetry which are gene\u00adrally familiar on the continent
\nand have had a real vogue, – we find the literature of the English tongue and
\nespecially its poetry flowing in a large side-stream, always receiving much
\nfrom the central body of European culture but returning upon it very little.
\nThis insularity, not of reception but of reaction, is a marked phenomenon and
\ncalls for explanation.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00ad<\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nwe look for the causes, – for such a paucity of influence cannot, certainly, be
\nput down to any perversity or obtuseness in the general mind of Europe, but must
\nbe due to some insufficiency or serious defect in the literature itself, – we
\nshall find, I think, if we look with other than English-trained eyes, that
\nthere is even in this rich and vigorous poetry abundant cause for the failure.
\nEnglish poetry is powerful but it is imperfect, strong in spirit, but uncertain
\nand tentative in form; it is extraordinarily simulating, but not often quite
\nsatisfying. It aims high, but its success is not as great as its effort.
\nEspecially its imaginative force exceeds its thought-power; it has indeed been
\nhardly at all a really great instrument of poetic thought-vision; it has not
\ndealt fruitfully with life. Its history has been more that of individual poetic
\nachievements than of a constant national tradition; in the mass it has been a
\nseries of poetical revolutions without any strong inner continuity. That is to
\nsay that it has had no great self-\u00adrecognising<\/span> idea
\nor view of life expressing the spiritual attitude of the nation and finding
\nsuccessfully from an early time its own sufficient artistic forms. But it is
\nprecisely the possession of such a self-recognising<\/span>
\nspiritual attitude and the attainment of a satis\u00adfying artistic form for it
\nwhich make the poetry of a nation a power in the worlds<\/span>
\ngeneral culture. For that which recognises<\/span> its self,
\nwill most readily be recognised<\/span> by others; that which
\nattains the perfect form of its own innate character, will most effectively
\nleave its stamp in the formation of the- mind of hu\u00admanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have only to
\ntake one or two examples to see the whole difference. No poetry has had so
\npowerful an influence as Greek poetry; no poetry is, I think, within its own
\nlimits so perfect and \u00adsatisfying. The limits indeed are marked and even,
\njudged by the undulating many-sidedness and wideness of the modern mind,<\/span><\/p>\n

Page \u2013 45<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

narrow<\/span>; but on its own lines this poetry works with a
\nflawless power and sufficiency. From beginning to end it dealt with life from
\none large viewpoint, that of the inspired reason and the enlightened and
\nchastened aesthetic sense; whatever changes overtook it, it never departed from
\nthis motive which is of the very essence of the Greek spirit. And of this
\nmotive it was very conscious and by its clear recognition of it arid fidelity
\nto it, it was able to achieve an artistic beauty and sufficiency of expressive
\nform which affect us like an easily accomplished miracle and which have been,
\nthe admiration of after-ages. Even the poetry of the Greek decadence preserved
\nenough of this power to act as a shaping influence on Latin poetry.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

French
\npoetry is much more limited than the Greek, much less powerful in inspiration. For it deals with life from the stand\u00ad point not of the inspired
\nreason, but of the clear-thinking intel\u00adlect, not of the enlightened aesthetic
\nsense, but of emotional senti\u00adment.<\/span> These are its two constant powers;
\nthe one gives it its brain-stuff, the other its poetical fervour<\/span>
\nand appeal. Through\u00adout all the changes of the last century, in spite of
\napparent cul\u00adtural revolutions, the French spirit has remained in its poetry
\nfaithful to these two motives which are of its very essence, and therefore too
\nit has always or almost always found its satisfying and characteristic form. To
\nthat combination of a clear and strong motive and a satisfying form it owes the
\ninfluence it has exercised from time to time on other European literatures. The
\ncultural power of the poetry of other tongues may be traced to similar causes.
\nBut what has been the spirit and form of English poetry? Certainly, there is an
\nEnglish spirit which could not fail to be reflected in its poetry; but, not
\nbeing clearly self-conscious, it is reflected obscurely and confusedly, and it
\nhas been at war within itself, followed a fluctuation of different motives and
\nnever succeeded in bringing about between them a conciliation and fu\u00adsion.
\nTherefore its form has suffered; it has had indeed no native and characteristic
\nprinciple of form which would be, through all changes, the outward reflection
\nof a clear self-recognising<\/span> spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The poetry of a nation is only one side of
\nits self-expression and its characteristics may be best understood if we look
\nat it in relation to the whole mental and dynamic effect of the people.<\/p>\n

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\n46<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf we so look at the general contribution of the English nation to
\nhuman.1ife and culture, the eye is arrested by some remarkable lacunae.<\/span>
\nThese are especially profound in the arts: Eng1ish music is a zero, English
\nsculpture an unfilled void, English architecture hardly better; English
\npainting, illustrated by a few great names, has been neither a great artistic
\ntradition nor a powerful cultural force and merits only a casual mention by the
\nside of the rich achievement of Italy, Spain, France, Holland, Belgium. When we
\ncome to the field of thought we get a mixed impression like that of great
\nmountain eminences towering out of a very low and flat plain. We find great
\nindividual philosophers, but no great philosophical tradition, two or three
\nremarkable thinkers, but no high fame for thinking, many of the most famous
\nnames in science, but no national scientific culture. Still in these fields
\nthere has been remarkable accomplishment and the influence on European thought
\nhas been occasionally considerable and sometimes capital. But when finally we
\nturn to the business of practical life, there is an unqualified pre-eminence:
\nin mechanical science and invention, in politics, in commerce and industry, in
\ncolonisation<\/span>, travel, exploration, in the domination of
\nearth and the exploitation of its riches England has been till late largely,
\nsometimes entirely the world’s- leader, the shaper of its motives and the
\ncreator of its forms.<\/span><\/p>\n

This peculiar distribution of the national
\ncapacities finds its root in certain racial characteristics. We have first the
\ndominant Anglo-Saxon strain quickened, lightened and given force, power and
\ninitiative by the Scandinavian and Celtic elements. This mixture has made a
\nrational mind remarkably dynamic and practical, with all the Teutonic strength,
\npatience, industry, but liberated from the Teutonic heaviness <\/u>and
\ncrudity, yet retaining enough not to be too light of balance or too sensitive
\nto the shocks of life; therefore, a nation easily first in practical in\u00adtelligence
\nand practical dealing with the facts and difficulties of life. Not, be it
\nnoted, by any power of c1ear intellectual thought or by force of imagination or
\nintellectual intuition, but rather by a strong vital instinct, a sort of
\ntentative dynamic intuition. No spirituality, but a robust ethical turn; no
\ninnate power of the word, but a strong turn for action; no fine play of emotion
\nor <\/p>\n

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\n47<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nquickness<\/span> of sympathy, but an abundant energy and force of
\nwill. This is one element of the national mind; the other is the submerged, half-insistent
\nCeltic, gifted with precisely the opposite qualities, inherent spiritua1ity,
\nthe gift of the word, the rapid and brilliant imagination, the quick and
\nluminous intelligence, the strong emotional force and sympathy, the natural
\nlove of the things of the mind and still more of those beyond the mind, left to
\nit from an old forgotten culture in its blood which contained an ancient
\nmystical tradition. In life a subordinate element, modifying the cruder
\nAnglo-Saxon characteristics, breaking across them or correcting their excess,
\nwe may perhaps see it emerging in English poetry calling repeatedly to the
\nsurface and then working with a certain force and vehement but embarrassed
\npower like an imprisoned spirit let out for a holiday, but within not quite congenial
\nbounds and with an unadaptable companion. From the ferment of these two
\nelements arise both the greatness and the limitations of English poetry.<\/p>\n

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CHAPTER VII          The\u00a0 Character\u00a0 of\u00a0 English\u00a0 Poetry\u00a0 –\u00a0 1    OF ALL the modern European tongues the English language, I think. It may be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-09-the-future-poetry-volume-09","wpcat-29-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9831,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions\/9831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}