{"id":2347,"date":"2013-07-13T01:41:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2347"},"modified":"2020-10-08T17:49:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T00:49:28","slug":"12-on-poetry-poetry-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/01-early-cultural-writings\/12-on-poetry-poetry-vol-01-early-cultural-writings","title":{"rendered":"-12_On Poetry – Poetry.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
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On Poetry and Literature  <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\n
\n <\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n


\nPoetry <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Poetry I take to be the measured expression of emotion.
\nOf prose one asks, does the matter please, stimulate or instruct
\nthe intellect; does the style satisfy a cultured taste & observant literary sense; if it does so, it is good prose, whether it
\nmoves the heart or not. Of poetry we ask, does the matter move, stimulate, enlarge, heighten, or deepen the feelings; does it excite emotions of delight, sorrow, awe, sublimity, passionate interest, or if the nature of the subject matter is not such as to excite actual emotions, does it excite certain vague &nameless sensations, the
\nquiet stirring of the heart which attends the perception of beauty, or the august tumult
\nwhich goes with the sense of largeness & space or the quick delight of increased horizons & heart-searching perceptions, does
\nit give us the sense of power & passion? If it does, we have
\nthe material of poetry, but not yet poetry. Prose can and often does create similar effects. Great thoughts, beautiful description,
\nnoble narrative will always have this power on the soul. We have also to ask, does the language & verse harmonise with
\nthe emotion, become part of it & expressive of it, swell with its fullness and yet bound & restrain it? If it does, then we
\nhave poetry, a thing mighty & unanalysable, to usurp whose place prose vainly
\naspires. Matter by itself does not make poetry; skill in verse & diction is not poetry; striking &
\nbrilliant phrases, melodious weavings of sound are not poetry; it is the
\nnatural & predestined blending or rather inseparable existence of great matter with great verse producing high emotions or
\nbeautiful matter with beautiful verse producing soft emotions that gives us genuine poetry. An identity of word & sound, of
\nthought & word, of sound & emotion which seems to have been preordained from the beginning of the world and only
\nawaited its destined hour to leap into existence, or rather was<\/span><\/p>\n

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Page \u2013 123<\/span><\/p>\n

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there from the beginning of the world & only dawned into
\nsight at the right time, this rare identity is what we call poetry.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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Page \u2013 124<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On Poetry and Literature      Poetry     Poetry I take to be the measured expression of emotion. Of prose one asks,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-early-cultural-writings","wpcat-49-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2347","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=2347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11852,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2347\/revisions\/11852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}