{"id":2505,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2505"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:04","slug":"25-on-poems-published-in-ahana-and-other-poems-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\/25-on-poems-published-in-ahana-and-other-poems-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-25_On Poems Published in Ahana and Other Poems.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tOn Poems Published in <\/font> <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tAhana and Other Poems<\/font><\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/font>
\n<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\nOn Two Translations of Revelation<\/i><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe rendering of Revelation <\/i>is
\neven better than the two others, well inspired from beginning to end; the
\ncolouring is not quite the same as in my poem, but that is hardly avoidable in a
\npoetic version in another language. To alter it, as you propose, would be to
\nspoil it. There is no point in rendering literally "wind-blown locks", and it
\nwould be a pity to throw out
\n, for it is just the touch needed to avoid the
\nsuggestion of a merely human figure. It is
\n<\/i>needed ―for readers are often dense. An Indian critic (very competent, if a
\nlittle academic) disregarding all the mystic suggestions and even the plain
\nstatement of the closing couplet, actually described the poem as the poet’s
\nmemory of a girl running past him on the seashore!! <\/p>\n

25 January 1931
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe translation is very good poetry. It is perhaps not quite the original, for
\nwhat you describe is an obviously superhuman figure while the details in the
\npoem might be those of a human figure and it is something subtle and not
\nexpressed but only hinted which gives the impression expressed only at the end
\nthat it is someone of the heavenly rout. That however does not matter; your
\nversion can be taken as an adaptation of the idea in the poem and not a strict
\ntranslation of it. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\nOn Two Translations of The Vedantin’s Prayer<\/i><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou have
\nmade a very fine and true rendering of the
\nVedantin’s<\/i>
\nPrayer<\/i>. Perhaps so hard and rocky a person as the Vedantin, who is very
\nmuch of a converted Titan, would not have thought of such a sweet and luxurious
\nword as কুসুিম <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/font>in the midst of his   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-227<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

ascent and struggle, but these few alterations do not make any real difference
\nto the spirit. There is a quite sufficient nobility and power in your
\ntranslation. With that, it seems to me as literal as it can be. <\/p>\n

6 May 1932
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nKshitish Sen’s translation of the opening lines of the Vedantin’s<\/i>
\nPrayer
\n<\/i>are magnificently done. He has quite caught the tone of the original, its
\nausterity and elevation of thought and feeling and severe restraint of
\nexpression with yet a certain massiveness of power in it, ―these at least were
\nwhat tried to come out when I wrote it, and they are all unmistakably and nobly
\nthere in his rendering. If he can complete it without falling from the high
\nforce of this opening, it will be a
\nchef-d’oeuvre<\/i>. I notice he has got the exactly corresponding verse
\nmovement also. <\/p>\n

24 June 1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tOn a Translation of God<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n

It is not a very
\nsatisfactory translation, but your changes improve it as far as it can be
\nimproved. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhy <\/font>
\n\t\t\tতবু<\/span><\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tin the fourth line? The idea is that work and knowledge and
\n\t\t\tpower can only obey the Divine and give him service; Love alone can
\n\t\t\tcompel him ―because, of course, Love is self-giving and the Divine
\n\t\t\tgives himself in return. <\/p>\n

\nAs for the second verse it does not give the idea at all. To have no contempt
\nfor the clod or the worm does not indicate that the non-despiser is the Divine,
\n―such an idea would be absolutely meaningless and in the last degree feeble. Any
\nYogi could have that equality, or somebody much less than a Yogi. The idea is
\nthat, being omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, Supreme, the Divine does not scorn
\nto descend even into the lowest forms, the obscurest figures of Nature and
\nanimate them with the divine Presence, ―that <\/i>shows his Divinity. The
\nwhole sense has fizzled out in the translation. <\/p>\n

\nYou need not say all that to the poetess, but perhaps you might very delicately
\nhint to her that if she could bring in this <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-228<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

point, it would be better. Then perhaps she would herself change
\nthe verse. <\/p>\n

25 December 1930
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

On a Word in In the Moonlight<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the meaning of the word “ground” in these two lines
\nfrom your poem In the Moonlight<\/i>?
\n―<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

. . . Are Nature’s bye-laws merely, meant to ground <\/p>\n

A grandiose freedom building peace by strife. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does “ground” mean “crush”? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n“Ground” means here not to crush, but to make a ground or foundation for the freedom. What Science calls laws of Nature
\nare not the absolute or principal laws of existence, but only minor rules meant to build up a material basis for the life of the
\nSpirit in the body. On that has to be erected in the end, not a rule of material Law, but an immortal Liberty
\n\t―not law of Nature,
\nbut freedom of the Spirit. The strife of forces which is regulated by these minor laws of Nature is only the battle through which
\nman has to win the peace of Spirit. This is the sense. <\/p>\n

February 1929
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James Cousins on In the Moonlight <\/i>and The Rishi<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hear that James Cousins said about your poem
\nThe Rishi<\/i> that it was only spiritual philosophy, not poetry. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI never heard that. If I had I would have noted that Cousins had
\nno capacity for appreciating intellectual poetry. But that I knew already ―just as he had no liking for epic poetry either, only for
\npoetic “jewellery”. His criticism was of In the Moonlight <\/i>which he condemned as brain-stuff only except the early stanzas for
\nwhich he had high praise. That criticism was of great use to me ―though I did not agree with it. But the positive part of
\nit helped me to develop towards a supra-intellectual style. As Love and Death
\n<\/i>was poetry of the vital, so Ahana <\/i>[Ahana and<\/i>
\nother Poems<\/i>] is mostly work of the poetic intelligence. Cousins’   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-229<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

criticism helped me to go a stage farther. <\/p>\n

11 November 1936
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n

Amal says Cousins ignored The Rishi <\/i>while speaking of the
\nothers. Isn’t that far worse? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNeither worse nor better. What does Cousins’ bad opinion about
\nThe Rishi <\/i>matter to me? I know the limitations of my poetry and also its qualities. I know also the qualities of Cousins as a
\ncritic and also his limitations. If Milton had written during the life of Cousins instead of having an established reputation for
\ncenturies, Cousins would have said of Paradise Lost <\/i>and still more of
\nParadise Regained <\/i>“This is not poetry, this is theology.”
\nNote that I don’t mean to say that The Rishi <\/i>is anywhere near Paradise Lost<\/i>, but it is poetry as well as spiritual philosophy. <\/p>\n

13 November 1936  
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-230<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Poems Published in Ahana and Other Poems   On Two Translations of Revelation   The rendering of Revelation is even better than the two…<\/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-2505","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\/2505","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=2505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}