{"id":2532,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2532"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:15","slug":"10-rhythm-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\/10-rhythm-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-10_Rhythm.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t Two Factors in Poetic Rhythm
\n<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

If your purpose is to acquire not only metrical skill but the sense and the power of rhythm, to study the poets may do something,
\nbut not all. There are two factors in poetic rhythm, ―there is the technique (the variation of movement without spoiling
\nthe fundamental structure of the metre, right management of vowel and consonantal assonances and dissonances, the masterful combination of the musical element of stress with the less obvious element of quantity, etc.), and there is the secret soul of
\nrhythm which uses but exceeds these things. The first you can \u00af<\/i>
\nlearn, if you read with your ear always in a tapasyā <\/i>of vigilant attention to these constituents, but without the second what
\nyou achieve may be technically faultless and even skilful, but poetically a dead letter. This soul of rhythm can only be found
\nby listening in to what is behind the music of words and sounds and things. You will get something of it by listening for that
\nsubtler element in great poetry, but mostly it must either grow or suddenly open in yourself. This sudden opening can come
\nif the Power within wishes to express itself in that way. I have seen more than once a sudden flowering of capacities in every
\nkind of activity come by a rapid opening of the consciousness, so that one who laboured long without the least success to ex
\npress himself in rhythm becomes a master of poetic language and cadences almost in a day. Poetry is a question of the right
\nconcentrated silence or seeking somewhere in the mind with the right openness to the Word that is trying to express itself
\n\t―for
\nthe Word is there ready to descend in those inner planes where all artistic forms take birth, but it is the transmitting mind that
\nmust change and become a perfect channel and not an obstacle. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-124<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nHow can rhythm be explained? It is a matter of the ear, not of the intellect. Of course there are the technical elements, but you
\nsay you do not understand yet about them. But it is not a matter of technique only,
\n―the same outer technique can produce
\nsuccessful or unsuccessful rhythms (live or dead rhythms). One has to learn to distinguish by the ear, and the difficulty for you
\nis to get the right sense of the cadences of the English language. That is not easy, for it has many outer and inner elements.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t8 September 1938
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n Rhythmical Overtones and Undertones
\n<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n I was speaking of rhythmical overtones and undertones. That is to say, there is a metrical rhythm which belongs to the skilful
\nuse of metre ―any good poet can manage that; but besides that there is a music which rises up out of this rhythm or a music that
\nunderlies it, carries it as it were as the movement of the water carries the movement of a boat. They can both exist together in
\nthe same line; but it is more a matter of the inner than the outer ear and I am afraid I can’t define farther. To go into the subject
\nwould mean a long essay. But to give examples <\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

Journeys end in lovers’ meeting, <\/p>\n

Every wise man’s son doth know, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

is excellent metrical rhythm, but there are no overtones and
\nundertones. In <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Golden lads and girls all must <\/p>\n

As chimney-sweepers come to dust <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

there is a beginning of undertone, but no overtone, while the
\n“Take, O take those lips away” (the whole lyric) is all overtones. Again <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; <\/p>\n

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

has admirable rhythm, but there are no overtones or undertones. But <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-125<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

In maiden meditation fancy-free <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

has beautiful running undertones, while <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the deep backward and abysm of Time <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

is all overtones, and <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Absent thee from felicity awhile <\/p>\n

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

is all overtones and undertones together. I don’t suppose this will make you much wiser, but it is all I can do for you at present.        <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t11 May 1937
\n\t\t\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tRhythm and Significance
\n<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

You seem to suggest that significance does not matter and need not enter into the account in judging or feeling poetry! Rhythm
\nand word music are indispensable, but are not the whole of poetry. For instance lines like these
\n\t―<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the human heart of Heligoland <\/p>\n

A hunger wakes for the silver sea; <\/p>\n

For waving the might of his magical wand <\/p>\n

God sits on his throne in eternity, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

have plenty of rhythm and word music
\n\t―a surrealist might pass it, but I certainly would not. Your suggestion that my seeing the
\ninner truth behind a line magnifies it to me, i.e. gives a false value to me which it does not really have as poetry, may or may not be
\ncorrect. But, certainly, the significance and feeling suggested and borne home by the words and rhythm are in my view a capital
\npart of the value of poetry. Shakespeare’s lines <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Absent thee from felicity awhile <\/p>\n

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

have a skilful and consummate rhythm and word combination,
\nbut this gets its full value as the perfect embodiment of a profound and moving significance, the expression in a few words of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-126<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

a whole range of human world-experience.1<\/font><\/sup> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1 September 1938
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEnglish Metre and Rhythm <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

English metre is simple on the contrary. It is the management of
\nthe rhythm that makes a more difficult demand on the writer.         <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5 May 1937
\n\t\t\t<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1<\/font><\/sup> This is an abbreviated and lightly revised version of a letter published in full on pages<\/i>
\n496 \u00ad 97 ―Ed.<\/i>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-127<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rhythm    Two Factors in Poetic Rhythm   If your purpose is to acquire not only metrical skill but the sense and the power of…<\/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-2532","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\/2532","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=2532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}