{"id":2530,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:14","slug":"33-on-the-publication-of-his-poetry-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\/33-on-the-publication-of-his-poetry-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-33_On the Publication of His Poetry.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn the Publication of His Poetry
\n<\/font><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Question of Publication <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI do not attach much importance to the publication or non
\npublication of my poetry and never have done. Most of it (the published part) appeared five, ten, fifteen or even thirty or more
\nyears after they were written. The few recently published in magazines (not all of them new, e.g. the sonnets) owed their fate
\nto Nolini’s eagerness and not to my initiative. But the vast bulk of what I have written (long poems mostly) lies on shelf and
\nin drawer, most of it for more than a decade, awaiting either dissolution or an interminable revision or total recasting which
\nat the present rate may well retain them there a decade or two more. But that is my own idiosyncrasy
\n\t\t\t―it cannot be a rule
\nor example for others. However, for those that are “circulated” Nolini and Doraiswami have found a trick which
\n\t\t\t―I hope
\n\t\t\t― will prevent any farther push for premature publication in the future
\n\t\t\t―i.e. printing them as they come and letting them pile
\nup for private circulation hereafter. <\/p>\n

8 January 1935
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOn an Early Publication Proposal <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Here are my selections from your shorter poems. Dara wants
\nme to send it to you so that you may judge whether I have selected rightly and whether it is what may be printed, as he
\nsuggests, by the Aligarh or Osmania University. But please tell me: is this Aligarh or Osmania University business a possible
\nscheme? . . . <\/p>\n

What about Love and Death <\/i>and Baji Prabhou<\/i>? Are they
\nto be printed in toto <\/i>or in part? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI have not the least notion whether it is possible; I suppose that
\nordinarily no University in India would accept as text-book the (English) poems of a writer not yet consecrated (qua
\n<\/i>poet) by
\n   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-359<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

European fame. It is Dara’s idea; I don’t know if the Osmania or Aligarh Universities are really so original and unconventional
\nas to do such a thing. I thought however that a selection of the kind might prove useful, if not for this, for some other purpose,
\nand it would not be a bad thing to have one ready; for Dara’s idea of a selection is in itself a happy one. And I have often seen
\nthat circumstances arise and, because one is not ready with the materials, a chance is lost of getting something done.
\n<\/p>\n

Love and Death <\/i>is too long for inclusion in a book of selections; passages would be sufficient. For
\nBaji Prabhou <\/i>that holds
\nstill more, since it has not so much poetic value as Love and<\/i> Death<\/i>. <\/p>\n

As to your selections, it seems <\/i>to me that you have chosen with judgment and taste; but the comparative judgment of a
\npoet on his own writings is so often at fault that outside voices are needed for confirmation
\n―even though I fancy I have a
\nsufficient attitude of detachment towards my past work. But perhaps detachment is not enough.
\nP.S. I have altered the passage about Paris in two or three places where the rhythm is clumsy. At that time I had not evolved the
\n“perfect hexameter”. <\/p>\n

22 July 1932
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Selection of Short Poems<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1
\nTransformation <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2 Bird of Fire √<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3 Rose of God √<\/font><\/p>\n

4
\nWho? <\/p>\n

5
\nRevelation <\/p>\n

6
\nTo the Sea <\/p>\n

7
\nGod <\/p>\n

8
\nInvitation <\/p>\n

9
\nEpigram on Goethe <\/p>\n

10
\nRenewal <\/p>\n

11
\nDescent <\/p>\n

12
\nEstelle (I find this is not a translation)   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-360<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nI think these may be sent for his own selection of six. No translation or extracts from dramas or long poems are included, only
\nshort poems and small lyrics. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe mark √<\/font> means that we think these two ought to be
\nincluded in any selection made. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n


\nOn Two Proposals to Publish <\/p>\n


\nLove and Death <\/i>in England <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the way, the copy of your Love and Death
\n<\/i>is ready to go <\/p>\n

to England. I wonder how the critics will receive the poem. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou expect . . .
\nLove and Death <\/i>to make a sensation in England ―I don’t expect it in the least: I shall be agreeably surprised if it gets more than some qualified praise, and if it does not get even
\nthat, I shall be neither astonished nor discomfited. I know the limitations of the poem and its qualities and I know that the part
\nabout the descent into Hell can stand comparison with some of the best English poetry; but I don’t expect my contemporaries
\nto see it. If they do, it will be good luck or divine grace, that is all. <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI am afraid you are under an illusion as to the success of Love<\/i> and Death
\n<\/i>in England. Love and Death <\/i>dates, ―it belongs to
\nthe time when Meredith and Phillips were still writing and Yeats and A.E. were only in bud if not
\nin ovo. <\/i>Since then the wind has
\nchanged and even Yeats and A.E. are already a little high and dry on the sands of the past, while the form, manner, characteristics
\nof Love and Death <\/i>are just the things that are anathema to the post-war writers and literary critics. I fear it would be, if not
\naltogether ignored which is most likely, regarded as a feeble and belated Indian imitation of an exploded literary model dead and
\nburied long ago. I don’t regard it in that light myself, but it is not my opinion that counts for success but that of the modern
\nhighbrows. If it had been published when it was written, it might have been a success
\n―but now! Of course, I know that there
\nare many people still in England, if it got into their hands, who   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-361<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

would read it with enthusiasm, but I don’t think it would get into their hands at all. As for the other poems, they could not
\ngo with Love and Death. <\/i>When the time comes for publication, the sonnets will have to be published in a separate book of
\nSonnets and the others in another separate book of (mainly) lyrical poems ―so it cannot be now. That at least is my present
\nidea. It is not that I am against publication for all time, but my idea was to wait for the proper time rather than do anything
\npremature. <\/p>\n

One thing however could be done. Prithwi Singh could send
\nhis friend Love and Death <\/i>and perhaps the Six Poems <\/i>and sound the publishers as to whether the publication, in their eyes, would
\nbe worthwhile from their point of view. That would at least give a clue. <\/p>\n

24 October 1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Two Other Publication Proposals<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI have seen the opinion of the publisher consulted by Amiya Chakrabarty: Dilip’s friend, the novelist Thompson, has also
\nwritten to him offering to get a small selection of my poems published. Both opinions agree that poetry has very little chance
\nof success nowadays. Thompson says that poetry is out of fashion; the publisher also indicates that new and original poetry
\nhas very little chance with the public. I believe they are both right. I also agree that if anything is to be published in Europe,
\nit should be something in prose rather than in poetry. But I do not feel inclined to be in any haste in either direction; when
\nanything of the kind ought to happen ―I mean “ought” from the inner truth of things, I suppose it will arrange itself. You
\nwill remember that when I consented to let your friend show my poems to some publishers there, it was more to know what
\nthey would say and how they would take such poetry of an entirely new kind (I speak of course of the six poems and the
\nsonnets) and not with an idea of immediate publication. Neither mere selling nor having the books in good print and in a good
\nand pleasing form seems to me a sufficient justification for the expenditure. If publication agrees with an inner truth and serves
\n   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-362<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\na deeper purpose, then it will be worth while. I hope my decision will not disappoint you too much; it seems to me from my point
\nof view the right one. <\/p>\n

16 June 1935 <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wish a volume could be prepared containing either the complete poetical works of Sri Aurobindo or selections from his poetry. One or the other will certainly be very popular and
\ninvite an interest or bring things like the Nobel Prize etc. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou are mistaken. Nobody in England now reads poetry except
\nfor a very small circle of readers and in India poetry in English does not command a public. The time has not come.
\n  
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-363<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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