{"id":2496,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:00","slug":"64-appendix-i-the-problem-of-the-hexameter-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/27-letters-on-poetry-and-art\/64-appendix-i-the-problem-of-the-hexameter-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-64_APPENDIX I – The Problem of the Hexameter.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\nAppendixes<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n

\n  <\/p>\n


\nAPPENDIX I <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\nThe Problem of the Hexameter<\/b> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\nThe perfection of the hexameter is one of the unsolved problems of English prosody. Either the problem is insoluble, the
\nnoble rhythm so satisfying in Greek and Latin unsuited to the brief Saxon vocables
\n\t―or else the secret of a successful measure
\nhas not yet been discovered. Even were the solution found, there are many obstacles in the way of its acceptation. Yet
\na new metrical movement is felt to be a necessity and half-unconsciously strained after by the modern mind in poetry. If
\none could be found that, without admitting too wide a licence, without breaking down the mould of metre in which poetry by a
\nwise instinct has always sought to restrain herself, yet provided a freer scope and a fuller mould for the more subtle and complex
\nemotions and the vaster conceptions in which we have begun to live, the change might mean a new life and energy for a
\ngreat literature now too much overburdened and fettered by its past successes and triumphs. The present poem is an experiment in this direction. No doubt the definite entry of the hexameter among the ordinary forms of English prosody must
\nwait until it is chosen by a supreme poetical genius or a master rhythmist. But meanwhile something may possibly be done by
\na careful attempt founded on a clear and definite conception of the difficulties to be solved and a consistent method in their
\nsolution. <\/p>\n

The poems of Clough and Longfellow are, I think, the
\nonly serious essays in the hexameter in English literature. Many have dallied with the problem, from the strange experiments
\nof Spenser to the insufficient but carefully reasoned attempts of Matthew Arnold. But it is only by a long and sustained effort like Evangeline <\/i>or the Bothie <\/i>that the solution can really come. Longfellow in this connexion can be safely neglected,
\n   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-743<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

but Clough’s work is of a different order. Occasionally he really grappled with his task and for a moment [conquered] […………]1<\/font><\/sup>.
\nBut it is Clough’s defect that he is unable ordinarily to combine force with harmony. Either he produces verse of a rough energy,
\nlike the general type of hexameter used by him in the Bothie<\/i>, or, as in the pentameter experiments in the
\nAmours de Voyage<\/i>,
\nthe breath of life and power is wanting in a harmonious shell of sound. Yet once or twice he has surmounted every difficulty.
\nEspecially is there one verse with the right Homeric movement in the Bothie,
\n\t―<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

He like a god came leaving his ample Olympian chamber <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nwhich gave to my mind the key to the just use of the hexameter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1 Manuscript damaged. Two or three words missing. ―Ed.<\/i>  
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-744<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appendixes     APPENDIX I   The Problem of the Hexameter   The perfection of the hexameter is one of the unsolved problems of English…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","wpcat-51-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","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=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}