{"id":2511,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:06","slug":"24-on-early-translations-and-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\/24-on-early-translations-and-poems-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-24_On Early Translations and Poems.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n

On Early Translations and Poems <\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Translation of the Meghadut<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

I did translate the Meghadut<\/i>, but it was lost by the man with whom I kept
\nit ―so mention of it is useless. <\/p>\n

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

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The Hero and the Nymph <\/i>
\nand Urvasie<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOn an old advertisement page of the Arya <\/i>I find: "The Hero<\/i> and
\nthe Nymph<\/i>, a translation in verse of Kalidasa’s
\nVikramorvasie<\/i>." <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYes, I had forgotten the Hero and the Nymph<\/i>. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOur library hasn’t got this translation, nor your poem Urvasie<\/i>, both of
\nwhich are out of print. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI don’t think I have the Urvasie<\/i>, neither am I
\nvery anxious to have this poem saved from oblivion. <\/p>\n

5 February 1931
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>Love and
\nDeath<\/i>, Urvasie<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n


\nand The Hero and the Nymph<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWas Love and Death <\/i>your first achievement in blank verse, or
\n\t\t\tdid a lot of trial and experiment precede it? Was the brilliant
\n\t\t\tsuccess of your translation from Kalidasa its forerunner? <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\nThere was
\n\t\t\tno trial or experiment ―as I wrote, I did not proceed like that, ―I
\n\t\t\tput down what came, changing afterwards, but there too only as it
\n\t\t\tcame. At that time I had no theories, no methods or process. But
\nLove and Death <\/i>was not my first blank verse poem ―I had written one
\n\t\t\tbefore in the first years of my stay in Baroda which was privately
\n\t\t\tpublished, but afterwards I got disgusted with it and rejected it. I
\n\t\t\tmade also some translations   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-223<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

from the Sanskrit (in blank verse and heroic verse); but I don’t remember
\nto what you are referring as the translations of Kalidasa. Most of all that has
\ndisappeared into the unknown in the whirlpools and turmoil of my political
\ncareer. <\/p>\n

4 July 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The Hero and the Nymph <\/i>and Baji Prabhou<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is curious how you repeatedly forget that you have so wonderfully Englished
\nKalidasa’s
\nHero and the Nymph<\/i>. Surely it cannot be that you want it to be rejected
\nand forgotten? Its blank verse is excellent, and I shall be very much obliged if
\nout of the three typed copies of it I sent you a couple of years ago you will
\nkindly let me have one. Was this work composed before Love and Death<\/i>?
\nDoes Baji Prabhou <\/i>also antedate the latter? <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBaji Prabhou <\/i>was written much later. I do not remember just now about the
\nHero and the Nymph <\/i>―it might have been earlier, but I am not sure. I
\nshall see about the typed copy of the translation. No, I do not reject it. I had
\nmerely forgotten all about it. <\/p>\n

5 July 1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>Urvasie<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOn Sunday also I shall look at the Urvasie<\/i>. It is a poem I
\nam not in love with ―not that there is not some good poetry in it, but it seems
\nto me as a whole lacking in originality and life. However, I may be mistaken; a
\nwriter’s opinions on his productions generally are. <\/p>\n

5 April 1935
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>Love and
\nDeath<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThose that buy books like Love and Death <\/i>do so to get the yogic knowledge
\n―the mystery of death solved. I bought it for the same reason and was
\ndisappointed to find it is a story! <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThere is no Yogic knowledge there. It was
\nwritten before I started Yoga. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-224<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe other day Arjava told me that he considered the long speech of the Love-god
\nKama or Madan about himself in
\nLove and Death <\/i>one of the peaks in that poem ―he as good as compared it
\nto the descent into Hell.1<\/font><\/sup> Somehow I couldn’t at the time wax extremely
\nenthusiastic about it. Except for the opening eight or ten lines and some three
\nor four in the middle, I couldn’t regard it as astonishing poetry ―at least not
\none of the peaks. What is your own private opinion? I need not of course, quote
\nit to anyone. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMy private opinion agrees with Arjava’s estimate rather than with
\nyours. These lines may not be astonishing in the sense of an unusual effort of
\nconstructive imagination and vision like the descent into Hell; but I do not
\nthink I have, elsewhere, surpassed this speech in power of language, passion and
\ntruth of feeling and nobility and felicity of rhythm all fused together into a
\nperfect whole. And I think I have succeeded in expressing the truth of the
\ngodhead of Kama, the godhead of vital love (I am not using "vital" in the strict
\nYogic sense; I mean, the love that draws lives passionately together or throws
\nthem into or upon each other) with a certain completeness of poetic sight and
\nperfection of poetic power, which puts it on one of the peaks ―even if not the
\nhighest possible peak ―of achievement. That is my private opinion ―but, of
\ncourse, all do not need to see alike in these matters. <\/p>\n

10 February 1932
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\nChitrangada<\/i><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMonths ago I typed out, from the last two numbers (I think) of The Karmayogin<\/i>,
\npart of a poem by you called
\nChitrangada<\/i>. Is it possible to get the whole of it from you, so that I
\ncould type it for you as well as for the library and myself? <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe publication of
\nChitrangada <\/i>was a mistake. I wrote the poem hastily ―a rough draught,
\nintending to rewrite it and make it worth something. But the rewriting was never
\ndone. I am not <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1 See <\/i>Love and Death, lines 409 \u00ad 53, in
\n<\/i>Collected Poems, Volume 2 of  <\/i>THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-225<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

very anxious for the thing to survive in its present crude form. 21 May 1931
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Was Chitrangada <\/i>ever finished? <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt was certainly finished, but I suppose
\nthe MS is now lost. <\/p>\n

24 June 1937 <\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAm I to conclude either that your Chitrangada <\/i>is not worth revising
\nbecause it is a fragment or that whatever of it we have is already perfect
\npoetry? Else why have you shelved the question of revision? <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is under
\nconsideration and will probably remain so for some time. As for perfect poetry,
\nI don’t know that it can be made into that ―some revision here and there at the
\nmost is all that is possible. But this is not the moment. <\/p>\n

25 June 1937
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>Ilion<\/i> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIlion <\/i>is a fragment ―and by no means
\n\t\t\t<\/span>
\nne plus ultra<\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/span>
\n<\/i>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t―only the verse is good; I imagine I have found the solution for introducing
\nthe hexameter into English verse which others have tried but, till now, without
\nsuccess. That is all I can say about it at present; we shall see hereafter. <\/p>\n

19
\nSeptember 1931   <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-226<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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