{"id":2982,"date":"2013-07-13T01:45:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2982"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:45:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:06","slug":"56-note-on-the-texts-vol-02-collected-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/02-collected-poems\/56-note-on-the-texts-vol-02-collected-poems","title":{"rendered":"-56_Note on the Texts.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/p>\n

\n
\nNote on the Texts<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nNote on the Texts<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo once wrote that he was “a poet and a politician”
\n\t\t\tfirst, and only afterwards a philosopher. One might add that he was a
\n\t\t\tpoet before he entered politics and a poet after he ceased to write
\n\t\t\tabout politics or philosophy. His first published work, written
\n\t\t\tapparently towards the end of 1882, was a short poem. The last writing work
\n\t\t\the did, towards the end of 1950, was revision of the epic poem Savitri<\/i>.
\n\t\t\tThe results of these sixty-eight years of poetic output are collected in
\n\t\t\tthe present volume, with the exception of Savitri<\/i>, dramatic poetry,
\n\t\t\tpoetic translations, and poems written in Bengali and Sanskrit. These
\n\t\t\tappear, respectively, in Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol<\/i>,
\n\t\t\tCollected Plays and Stories<\/i>, Translations<\/i>, and Writings in Bengali and Sanskrit<\/i>, volumes33 \u00ad 34, 3 \u00ad 4, 5, and 9 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE<\/font> WORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font> AUROBINDO<\/font>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe poems in the present volume have been arranged in
\n\t\t\tseven chronological parts. The dates of the parts overlap because some
\n\t\t\tof the books that define each period contain poems from a wide range
\n\t\t\tof dates. Within each part, poems from books published by the author
\n\t\t\tare followed by complete and incomplete poems published
\n\t\t\tposthumously. Poems that appeared in books published by Sri Aurobindo during
\n\t\t\this lifetime are arranged as they were in those books. Otherwise,
\n\t\t\tpoems within each section of each part are arranged chronologically.
\n\t\t\tPoems written in Greek and in French appear in an appendix at the end
\n\t\t\tof the volume.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> ONE<\/font>: ENGLAND
\n\t\t\tAND<\/font> BARODA<\/font>, 1883 \u00ad 1898<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo went to England as a child of seven in 1879. He lived
\n\t\t\tin Manchester until 1884, when he went to London to study at St.
\n\t\t\tPaul’s School. From there he went to Cambridge in 1890. Three years
\n\t\t\tlater he returned to India, and until 1906 lived and worked in the
\n\t\t\tprincely state of Baroda. He began writing poetry in Manchester, and continued<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 691<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tin London, Cambridge and Baroda. His first collection, published
\n\t\t\tin Baroda in 1898, contained poems written in England and Baroda.
\n\t\t\tThis collection is reproduced in the present part, along with other
\n\t\t\tpoems written during these years.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoem Published in 1883<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLight<\/b>. Published 1883. Asked in 1939, “When did you begin to
\n\t\t\twrite poetry?”, Sri Aurobindo replied: “When my two brothers and I
\n\t\t\twere staying at Manchester. I wrote for the Fox family magazine. It
\n\t\t\twas an awful imitation of somebody I don’t remember.” The only
\n\t\t\tEnglish journal having a name resembling “the Fox family magazine” is
\nFox’s Weekly<\/i>, which first appeared on 11 January 1883 and was suspended
\n\t\t\tthe following November. Published from Leeds, it catered to the
\n\t\t\tmiddle and working classes of that industrial town. A total of nine
\n\t\t\tpoems appeared in
\nFox’s Weekly <\/i>during its brief existence. All but one of them are coarse adult satires. The exception is “Light”, published
\n\t\t\tin the issue of 11 January 1883. Like all other poems in
\nFox’s Weekly<\/i>, "Light” is unsigned, but there can be no doubt that it was the
\n\t\t\tpoem to which Sri Aurobindo referred when he said that his first
\n\t\t\tverses were published in “the Fox family magazine”. The poem’s stanza is
\n\t\t\tan imitation of the one used by P. B. Shelley in the well-known lyric “The
\n\t\t\tCloud”. Sri Aurobindo remarked in 1926 that as a child in
\n\t\t\tManchester, he went through the works of Shelley again and again. He also
\n\t\t\twrote that he read the Bible “assiduously” while living in the house of
\n\t\t\this guardian, William H. Drewett, a Congregationalist clergyman.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSongs to Myrtilla <\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThis, Sri Aurobindo’s first collection of poems, was printed in 1898
\n\t\t\tfor private circulation by the Lakshmi Vilas Printing Press, Baroda,
\n\t\t\tunder the title
\nSongs to Myrtilla and Other Poems<\/i>. No copy of the first edition survives. The second edition, which was probably a reimpression
\n\t\t\tof the first, is undated. The date of publication must therefore be
\n\t\t\tinferred from other evidence. The book’s handwritten manuscript, as well
\n\t\t\tas the second edition, contains the poem “Lines on Ireland”, dated 1896.The second edition contains a translation from Chandidasa that almost<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 691<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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

\n\t\t\tcertainly was done using an edition of Chandidasa’s works
\n\t\t\tpublished in 1897. On 17 October 1898, Sri Aurobindo’s brother
\n\t\t\tManmohan wrote in a letter to Rabindranath Tagore: “My brother . . . has
\n\t\t\tjust published a volume of poems at Baroda.” This book evidently is
\nSongs to Myrtilla<\/i>. In another letter Manmohan tells Tagore: “Aurobinda is
\n\t\t\tanxious to know what you think of his book of verses.” This second
\n\t\t\tletter is dated 24 October 1894, but the year clearly is wrong.
\n\t\t\tManmohan had not even returned to India from England by that date.
\n\t\t\tWhen the two letters are read together and when other documentary
\n\t\t\tevidence is evaluated, it becomes clear that the second letter also was written in1898, and that this was the year of publication of the first edition of
\n\t\t\tSongs to Myrtilla<\/i><\/font>.1<\/font><\/sup> The “second edition” apparently appeared a year or two later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA new edition of the book, entitled simply
\n\t\t\tSongs to Myrtilla<\/i><\/font><\/font>, was published by the Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, in April 1923.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhen a biographer suggested during the 1940s that
\n\t\t\tall the poems in Songs to Myrtilla <\/i>were written in Baroda, except for five that
\n\t\t\twere written in England, Sri Aurobindo corrected him as follows: “It is
\n\t\t\tthe other way round; all the poems in the book were written in
\n\t\t\tEngland except five later ones which were written after his return to
\n\t\t\tIndia. "The following poems certainly were written in Baroda after his
\n\t\t\treturn to India in 1893: “Lines on Ireland” (dated 1896), “Saraswati
\n\t\t\twith the Lotus” and “Bankim Chandra Chatterji” (both written after
\n\t\t\tthe death of Bankim in 1894), and “To the Cuckoo” (originally
\n\t\t\tsubtitled" A Spring morning in India”). “Madhusudan Dutt” was
\n\t\t\tprobably also written in Baroda, as were the two adaptations of poems
\n\t\t\tby Chandidasa. This makes seven poems. The number five, proposed by
\n\t\t\tthe biographer and not by Sri Aurobindo, was probably not meant by
\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo to be taken as an exact figure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe handwritten manuscript of Songs to Myrtilla
\n<\/i>contains one poem, “The Just Man”, that was not printed in any edition of
\n\t\t\tthe book. (It is reproduced here in the third section of Part One.)
\n\t\t\tThe manuscript and the second edition contain a dedication and a
\n\t\t\tLatin epigraph, which Sri Aurobindo later deleted. They are reproduced here<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t1 Manmohan Ghose’s letters to Tagore are reproduced and discussed in Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo: Archives and Research<\/i>, volume 12 (1988), pp. 86 \u00ad 87, 89 \u00ad 91.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 693<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tfrom the manuscript:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTo my brother<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tManmohan Ghose<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tthese poems<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tare dedicated.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTale tuum nobis carmen, divine poeta,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tQuale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per aestum<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDulcis aquae saliente sitim restinguere rivo.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tQuae tibi, quae tali reddam pro carmine dona?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Latin lines are from Virgil’s fifth Eclogue<\/i>, lines 45 \u00ad 47 and 81.They may be translated as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSo is thy song to me, poet divine,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAs slumber on the grass to weary limbs,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOr to slake thirst from some sweet-bubbling rill<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn summer’s heat . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tHow, how repay thee for a song so rare?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFour of the poems in Songs to Myrtilla
\n<\/i>are adaptations of works written in other languages: two in ancient Greek and two in mediaeval
\n\t\t\tBengali. These adaptations are published here in their original context.
\n\t\t\tThey are also published in Translations<\/i>, volume 5 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE<\/font>
\n\t\t\tWORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font> AUROBINDO<\/font>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSongs to Myrtilla<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98. This, the title-poem of the
\n\t\t\tcollection, is headed in the manuscript “Sweet is the night”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tO Co\u00efl, Co\u00efl.<\/b> Circa 1890 \u00ad 98. The co\u00efl is the koyel <\/i>or Indian cuckoo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tGoethe<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Lost Deliverer<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98. In the manuscript and the
\n\t\t\tBaroda edition, this epigram is entitled “Ferdinand Lassalle”. Lassalle (1825 \u00ad64), a German socialist leader, was killed in a duel over a
\n\t\t\twoman. Charles Stewart Parnell. Dated 1891, the year of the Irish
\n\t\t\tnationalist leader’s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tHic Jacet.<\/b> Dated 1891 in the manuscript; subtitled in the manuscript<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 694<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tand in all printed editions: “Glasnevin Cemetery”. This is the
\n\t\t\tcemetery in Dublin where Parnell is buried.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLines on Ireland<\/b>. Dated 1896 in the manuscript and all printed editions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tOn a Satyr and Sleeping Love<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98. This is a translation
\n\t\t\tof a Greek epigram attributed to Plato.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Rose of Women<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98. This is a translation of a
\n\t\t\tGreek epigram by Meleager (first century B.C.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSaraswati with the Lotus<\/b>. 1894 or later. Written after the death of the<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterji<\/b> (1838 \u00ad 94)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tNight by the Sea<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Lover’s Complaint.<\/b> Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLove in Sorrow<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Island Grave<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEstelle<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRadha’s Complaint in Absence<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98, probably towards
\n\t\t\tthe end of this period. This is an adaptation of a poem by the Bengali
\n\t\t\tpoet and mystic Chandidasa (late fourteenth to early fifteenth century)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRadha’s Appeal.<\/b> Circa 1890 \u00ad 98, probably towards the end of
\n\t\t\tthis period. Another adaptation of a poem by Chandidasa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBankim Chandra Chatterji.<\/b> Circa 1894 \u00ad 98. Certainly written
\n\t\t\tafter Bankim’s death in 1894. The poem is entitled in the manuscript “Lines
\n\t\t\twritten after reading a novel of Bunkim Chundra Chatterji”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tMadhusudan Dutt.<\/b> Circa 1893 \u00ad 98.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo the Cuckoo<\/b>. Circa 1893 \u00ad 98. Subtitled in the manuscript “A
\n\t\t\tSpring morning in India”. The subtitle may have been deleted from the
\n\t\t\tBaroda edition simply for lack of space.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEnvoi<\/b>. Circa 1890 \u00ad 98, probably closer to 1898. Entitled “Vale”
\n\t\t\tin the manuscript. No title was printed in the Baroda edition,
\n\t\t\tperhaps for lack of space. The title "Envoi" was given when a new
\n\t\t\tedition of Songs to Myrtilla
\n<\/i>was brought out in 1923. The Latin epigraph is from the Appendix Vergiliana <\/i>(poems once ascribed to Virgil,
\n\t\t\tbut more likely by a contemporary), Catalepton, Carmen 5, lines 8 \u00ad 11.The following translation of these lines is by Joseph J. Mooney (The
\n\t\t\tMinor Poems of Vergil <\/i>[Birmingham, 1916]):<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tO Muses, off with you, be gone with all the rest!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYe charming Muses, for the truth shall be confessed<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 695<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYe charming were, and modestly and rarely still<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYe must revisit pages that I then shall fill.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems from Manuscripts, circa 1891 \u00ad 1898<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAll but one of the pieces in this section and the next are taken from
\n\t\t\ta notebook Sri Aurobindo used at Cambridge between 1890 and 1892.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo a Hero-Worshipper<\/b>. September 1891. From the Cambridge note-book.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPhaethon<\/b>. Circa 1891 \u00ad 92. From the Cambridge notebook.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Just Man<\/b>. Circa 1891 \u00ad 98. This poem forms part of the manu-script of Songs to Myrtilla
\n<\/i>but was not included by Sri Aurobindo in the printed book.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIncomplete Poems from Manuscripts, circa 1891 \u00ad 1892<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThou bright choregus<\/b>. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1891 \u00ad 92.These two stanzas are from the Cambridge notebook. Published
\n\t\t\there for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLike a white statue<\/b>. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1891 \u00ad 92.
\n\t\t\tThis incomplete prose poem is from the Cambridge notebook. In the manu-script, there is a comma at the end of the last line.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Vigil of Thaliard<\/b>. 1891 \u00ad 92. Sri Aurobindo wrote this
\n\t\t\tincomplete ballad in the Cambridge notebook. He dated certain passages of
\n\t\t\tit August and September 1891 and March and April 1892.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> TWO<\/font>: BARODA<\/font>,
\n\t\t\tCIRCA 1898 \u00ad 1902<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tComplete Narrative Poems<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tUrvasie<\/b>. Circa 1898. This poem first appeared in a small book
\n\t\t\tprinted for private circulation by the Vani Vilas Press, Baroda. (A deluxe
\n\t\t\tedition was printed later by the Caxton Works, Bombay.) In 1942, Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo informed the editors of
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems and Plays <\/i>that Urvasie
\n<\/i>was printed “sometime before I wrote Love and Death’", that is, before 1899. He also indicated that Urvasie <\/i>was subsequent<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 696<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/i>to
\n\t\t\tSongs to Myrtilla<\/i><\/font>, which was published in 1898. Taking these data
\n\t\t\ttogether, one is obliged to assign
\nUrvasie <\/i>to 1898 \u00ad 99.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLove and Death<\/b>. The handwritten manuscript of this poem is
\n\t\t\tdated" June. July 1899". The poem first appeared in print in the
\n\t\t\treview Shama’a <\/i>in January 1921, and was reprinted the same year by
\n\t\t\tMrinalini Chattopadhyay, Aghore Mandir, Madras.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA Note on
\n\t\t\tLove and Death<\/i> Circa 1921. This is the longest of three
\n\t\t\thandwritten drafts of a note Sri Aurobindo thought of adding to
\nLove
\n\t\t\tand Death <\/i>when it was published in 1921. In the event, the poem
\n\t\t\twas published without a note.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIncomplete Narrative Poems, circa 1899 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1902<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKhaled of the Sea<\/b>. 1899. The handwritten manuscript of this poem
\n\t\t\tis dated in three places: "Jan 1899" at the end of the Prologue,
\n\t\t\t"Feb.1899" in the middle of Canto I, and "March, 1899" at the
\n\t\t\tend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tUloupie<\/b>. Circa 1901 \u00ad 2. A portion of the rough draft of this
\n\t\t\tpoem was written below some notes that may be dated to May 1901.
\n\t\t\tThe poem was never completed, but was drawn upon in the writing of
\n\t\t\tChitrangada
\n<\/i>(see below, Part Four).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSonnets from Manuscripts, circa 1900 \u00ad 1901<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo wrote the twelve sonnets in this section, as well as the
\n\t\t\tfourteen poems in the next section, in a notebook that contains
\n\t\t\tthe fair copy of
\nUloupie<\/i>, which was written in 1901 \u00ad 2. The other contents of the notebook
\n\t\t\tmay have been drafted sometime earlier; "The Spring Child" certainly
\n\t\t\twas. The notebook was seized by the British police when Sri Aurobindo
\n\t\t\twas arrested in 1908. This made it impossible for him to revise or
\n\t\t\tpublish these poems after his release from jail in 1909.In the
\n\t\t\tmanuscript, the first four sonnets are grouped together under the
\n\t\t\theading: "Four Sonnets". None of the twelve have titles.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tO face that
\n\t\t\tI have loved<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tI cannot equal<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tO
\n\t\t\tletter dull and cold<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tMy life is wasted<\/b>. Circa
\n\t\t\t1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBecause thy flame is spent<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span>698<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 697<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThou didst mistake<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRose, I have loved.<\/b>
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tI have a hundred lives<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tStill
\n\t\t\tthere is something<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tI have a doubt<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo weep because a glorious sun<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tWhat is this
\n\t\t\ttalk.<\/b> Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tShort Poems from Manuscripts, circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1901<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo wrote these fourteen poems in the notebook he
\n\t\t\tused also for Uloupie
\n<\/i>and the above sonnets. He wrote the heading "Miscellaneous" above the
\n\t\t\tpoems. They are arranged here in the order in which they appear in
\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo’s notebook.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Spring Child<\/b>. 1900. As recorded in the
\n\t\t\tsubtitle, this poem was written for Sri Aurobindo’s cousin Basanti
\n\t\t\tMitra, who was born on9 Jyestha 1292 (22 May 1886). The title and
\n\t\t\topening of the poem <\/i>involve a play on the Bengali word
\n\t\t\tbāsantī<\/i>, which means "vernal", "of the spring".<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Doubt<\/b>. Circa
\n\t\t\t1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Nightingale<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEuphrosyne<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1901. The Greek word euphrosunē <\/i>
\n\t\t\tmeans "cheerfulness, mirth, merriment". In Greek mythology,
\n\t\t\tEuphrosyne was one of the three Graces.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Thing Seen.<\/b> Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEpitaph<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo the Modern Priam<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSong<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEpigram<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Three
\n\t\t\tCries of Deiphobus<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPerigone Prologuises<\/b>. Circa
\n\t\t\t1900 \u00ad 1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSince I have seen your face<\/b>. No title in the manuscript.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSo that was why<\/b>. No title in the manuscript. Circa
\n\t\t\t1900 \u00ad 1901. Sri Aurobindo wrote this passage at the bottom of
\n\t\t\tseveral pages of the notebook that contains the above poems. Dramatic
\n\t\t\tin style, it may<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 698<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/i>have been intended for a
\n\t\t\tplay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tWorld’s delight<\/b>. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1901.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> THREE<\/font>: BARODA
\n\t\t\tAND<\/font> BENGAL<\/font>,
\nCIRCA<\/font> 1900 \u00ad 1909 <\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems from Ahana
\n\t\t\tand Other Poems<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tAhana and Other Poems <\/i>was published in 1915. It
\n\t\t\tconsists of the long poem
\nAhana<\/i>, written in Pondicherry, and twenty-four shorter poems, most of
\n\t\t\twhich were written in Baroda. Sometime after 1915,Sri Aurobindo
\n\t\t\twrote in his copy of the book, "Written mostly between 1895 and
\n\t\t\t1908, first published at Pondicherry in 1915." This inscription shows
\n\t\t\ta degree of uncertainty: "1895" was written over"1900", while "1908"
\n\t\t\twas written over "1907". Neither of the dates, written more than a
\n\t\t\tdecade after the poems, need be considered exact. Surviving
\n\t\t\tmanuscript drafts of these poems do not appear to be earlier than
\n\t\t\t1900. Near-final drafts of many of them are found in a
\n\t\t\ttyped manuscript that may be dated to 1904 \u00ad 6. When Sri Aurobindo
\n\t\t\tlooked over these poems in 1942 while his Collected Poems and Plays <\/i>
\n\t\t\twas being arranged, he commented: "I find that
\n\t\t\tmost of the poems are quite early in Baroda, others later on and
\n\t\t\tothers in the second period [of poems in the book, i.e. 1906 \u00ad 9<\/i>].
\n\t\t\tIt would be a pity to break-up these poems, as they form a natural
\n\t\t\tgroup by themselves." In the present volume, these twenty-four poems
\n\t\t\tare published in a single group, while "Ahana" is published along
\n\t\t\twith other works written in Pondicherry. Two of the poems in this
\n\t\t\tsection, "Karma" and "Appeal", are adaptations of mediaeval Indian
\n\t\t\tlyrics. They are published herein their original context, and also
\n\t\t\tin Translations<\/i>, volume 5 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE<\/font> WORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font> AUROBINDO<\/font>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tInvitation<\/b>. 1908 \u00ad 9. This poem was published in Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo’s weekly newspaper
\nKarmayogin <\/i>on 6 November 1909, under the inscription: "(Composed in the
\n\t\t\tAlipur Jail)". Sri Aurobindo was a prisoner in Alipore Jail between
\n\t\t\t5 May 1908 and 6 May 1909.Who. Circa 1908 \u00ad 9. Published in the
\n\t\t\tKarmayogin <\/i>on 13 November1909.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 699<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tMiracles<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tReminiscence<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906. A typewritten
\n\t\t\tcopy of this poem was an exhibit in the Alipore Bomb Case in 1908
\n\t\t\t(see Bande Mataram<\/i> weekly, 5 July 1908, p. 13).<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Vision of
\n\t\t\tScience<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tImmortal Love<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Tree<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo the Sea<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906. A version of the
\n\t\t\tpoem was published in the Modern Review <\/i>in June
\n\t\t\t1909.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRevelation<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906. A draft of this poem, entitled "The
\n\t\t\tVision",
\n\t\t\tis found in the manuscript notebook that contains "Uloupie" and other
\n\t\t\tpoems included in Part Two. This draft differs considerably from the
\n\t\t\tversion found in the typed manuscript of 1904 \u00ad 6, which was used as
\n\t\t\tthe basis of the text published in
\nAhana and Other Poems<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKarma<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906 or later. This is a free
\n\t\t\trendering of a poem by the mediaeval Bengali poet Chandidasa.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tAppeal<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906 or later. This poem is based in part on a song by
\n\t\t\tthe mediaeval Maithili poet Vidyapati. The first stanza
\n\t\t\tfollows Vidyapati’s text fairly closely; the next two stanzas are Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo’s own invention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Child’s Imagination.<\/b> Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Sea at Night.<\/b> Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Vedantin’s Prayer<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tRebirth<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Triumph-Song of
\n\t\t\tTrishuncou<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLife and Death<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEvening<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tParabrahman<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tGod<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Fear of Death<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSeasons<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Rishi<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1908. Sheets containing
\n\t\t\tdraft passages of this poem were seized by the British police when
\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo was arrested in 1908. Sometime after the poem was
\n\t\t\tpublished in
\nAhana and Other Poems<\/i>, Sri Aurobindo wrote under it in his copy of the
\n\t\t\tbook"(1907 \u00ad 1911)"  \u2014  but see the note under the section
\n\t\t\ttitle above.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIn the Moonlight<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 700<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems from Manuscripts, circa 1900 \u00ad 1906<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo
\n\t\t\twrote these poems around the same time that he wrote those making up
\n\t\t\tthe previous section. Many of them form part of a typed manuscript
\n\t\t\tthat contains poems included in
\nAhana and Other Poems<\/i>. Sri Aurobindo chose not to include the poems in the
\n\t\t\tpresent section in that book when it was published in 1915. They
\n\t\t\tfirst appeared in print posthumously.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo the Boers<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1902.
\n\t\t\tAccording to the subtitle, this poem was written "during the progress
\n\t\t\tof the Boer War". The Boer War began in 1899 and ended in
\n\t\t\t1902.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tVision<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo the Ganges.<\/b> Circa 1900 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSuddenly out from the wonderful East<\/b>. No title in the
\n\t\t\tmanuscript. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1902. This poem is Sri Aurobindo’s earliest
\n\t\t\tsurviving attempt to write a poem in dactylic hexameters. A fair copy
\n\t\t\tis found on the same sheet as a fair copy of "To the Boers", which
\n\t\t\twas written around 1900 \u00ad 1902. This and another draft of the poem
\n\t\t\twere seized by the British police when Sri Aurobindo was arrested in
\n\t\t\t1908. Several years later, in Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo began what
\n\t\t\tappears to be anew or revised version of this poem, but wrote only
\n\t\t\tthree lines:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhere in a lapse of the hills leaps lightly down with
\n\t\t\tlaughter<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhite with her rustle of raiment upon the spray strewn boulders,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCold in her virgin childhood the river resonant Ganges.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tOn
\n\t\t\tthe Mountains<\/b>. Circa 1900 \u00ad 1906.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> FOUR<\/font>: CALCUTTA
\n\t\t\tAND<\/font> CHANDERNAGORE<\/font>,
\n\t\t\t1907 \u00ad 1910 <\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo left his teaching position in
\n\t\t\tBaroda in February 1906and went to Calcutta to join the national
\n\t\t\tmovement. Between and May 1908 he was the editor of the daily
\n\t\t\tnewspaper Bande Mataram<\/i>, and had little occasion to write
\n\t\t\tpoetry. In May 1908he was arrested and imprisoned in Alipore Jail.
\n\t\t\tDuring the year of his detention he managed to compose a few poems
\n\t\t\tthat were published after his release in May 1909. Between June 1909
\n\t\t\tand February 1910,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 701<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\the was the editor of the
\n\t\t\tweekly journal Karmayogin<\/i>, in which several of his poems
\n\t\t\tappeared. In February 1910 he went from Calcutta to Chandernagore,
\n\t\t\tand six weeks later to Pondicherry, where he spent the rest of his
\n\t\t\tlife.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSatirical Poem Published in 1907<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tReflections of Srinath Paul,
\n\t\t\tRai Bahadoor, on the Present Discontents. This poem was published on
\n\t\t\t5 April 1907 in the daily Bande Mataram<\/i>. This political
\n\t\t\tnewspaper, edited by Sri Aurobindo and others, carried a number of
\n\t\t\tsatirical poems, most of which were the work of Sri Aurobindo’s
\n\t\t\tcolleague Shyam Sundar Chakravarti. This piece is the exception. Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo remembered writing it in 1942 when his poems were being
\n\t\t\tcollected for publication in Collected Poems and Plays<\/i>. (It
\n\t\t\twas not published in that collection because the file of the daily
\n\t\t\tBande Mataram
\n<\/i>was not then available.) Later the poem was independently ascribed to Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo by Hemendra Prasad Ghose, another Bande Mataram
\n<\/i>editor and writer, who was in a way responsible for its composition. In his
\n\t\t\treport on the session of the Bengal Provincial Conference held in
\n\t\t\tBehrampore in 1907, Hemendra Prasad wrote that the chairman of the
\n\t\t\tReception Committee, a loyalist named Srinath Paul (who bore the
\n\t\t\thonourary British title Rai Bahadoor), finished his address
\n\t\t\t"perspiring and short of breath" (Bande Mataram<\/i>, 2
\n\t\t\tApril1907). This phrase moved Sri Aurobindo to write this amusing
\n\t\t\tpiece of political satire. It was published under the heading "By the
\n\t\t\tWay", which was the headline he used for his occasional column in
\nBande Mataram<\/i>. The same words were used in place of a signature at the
\n\t\t\tend.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tShort Poems Published in 1909 and 1910<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Mother of Dreams<\/b>. 1908
\n\t\t\t\u00ad 9. Published in the Modern Review <\/i>in July 1909, two months
\n\t\t\tafter Sri Aurobindo’s release from the Alipore Jail. The following
\n\t\t\tnote was appended to the text: "This poem was composed by Mr.
\n\t\t\tAurobindo Ghose in the Alipore Jail, of course with-out the aid of
\n\t\t\tany writing materials. He committed it to memory and wrote it down
\n\t\t\tafter his release. There are several other poems of his, composed in
\n\t\t\tjail."<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 702<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tAn Image<\/b>. Circa 1909. Published in
\n\t\t\tthe Karmayogin <\/i>on 20 November1909. (This was the third poem
\n\t\t\tby Sri Aurobindo that he published in the Karmayogin<\/i>. The
\n\t\t\tfirst two, "Invitation" and "Who", were included in
\nAhana and Other Poems <\/i>in 1915, and so are included in Part Three of the
\n\t\t\tpresent volume.) "An Image", Sri Aurobindo’s first
\n\t\t\tpublished lines in
\n\t\t\tquantitative hexameters, may be related in some way to
\nIlion<\/i>, his epic poem in that metre, which he began to write in Alipore
\n\t\t\tJail (see below, Part Five).<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Birth of Sin<\/b>. Circa 1909. Published
\n\t\t\tin the Karmayogin <\/i>on 11December 1909. A fragmentary draft of
\n\t\t\ta related piece is found in one of Sri Aurobindo’s notebooks in
\n\t\t\thandwriting of the 1909 \u00ad 10 period. That piece, which is more in the
\n\t\t\tnature of a play than a poem, is published in Collected Plays and
\n\t\t\tStories<\/i>, volume 4 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE
\n\t\t\t<\/font>WORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font> AUROBINDO<\/font>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tEpiphany<\/b>.
\n\t\t\tCirca 1909. Published in the Karmayogin <\/i>on 18 December1909.
\n\t\t\tAround 1913, Sri Aurobindo copied the
\nKarmayogin <\/i>text into a notebook, making a few deliberate changes as he did
\n\t\t\tso. Later he revised the opening and close of this version. Three
\n\t\t\tdecades later, when Collected Poems and Plays <\/i>was being
\n\t\t\tcompiled, the editors, not knowing about the 1913 version, sent the
\nKarmayogin <\/i>text to Sri Aurobindo, who made a few revisions to it. This
\n\t\t\tversion was used in Collected Poems and Plays
\n<\/i>(1942) and reproduced in Collected Poems <\/i>in 1972. The editors of the
\n\t\t\tpresent volume have selected the more extensively revised version of
\n\t\t\t1913 for the text reproduced here. The1942 version is reproduced in
\n\t\t\tthe Reference Volume.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTo R<\/b>. 1909. Published in the
\nModern Review <\/i>in April 1910 under the title "To R  \u2014  " and
\n\t\t\tdated 19 July 1909. "R" stands for Ratna, which was the pet name of
\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo’s cousin Kumudini Mitra, who was born on 3 Sraban 1289
\n\t\t\t(18 July 1882). In the Modern Review<\/i>, the poem was signed "Auro
\n\t\t\tDada" (big brother Auro).<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTransiit, Non Periit<\/b>. 1909 or earlier. This
\n\t\t\tsonnet to Rajnarain Bose, Sri Aurobindo’s maternal grandfather and a
\n\t\t\twell-known writer and speaker, was first published at the beginning
\n\t\t\tof Atmacharit<\/i>, Rajnarain’s memoirs, in 1909. As mentioned in
\n\t\t\tthe note beneath the title, Rajnarain died in September 1899. Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo may have written the poem anytime between 1899 and 1909;
\n\t\t\tbut since there are no drafts among his Baroda manuscripts, and since
\n\t\t\tthe poem belongs stylistically with<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 703<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tthose of
\n\t\t\t1909, it seems likely that it was written close to the date of the
\n\t\t\tpublication of that book. Quite possibly it was written
\n\t\t\tespecially for the book in 1909. The Latin title means: "He has gone
\n\t\t\tbeyond, he has not perished."<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems from Manuscripts, circa 1909 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t1910<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPerfect thy motion.<\/b> No title in the manuscript. Circa 1909. The
\n\t\t\tsingle manuscript text of this poem is found in a notebook that Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo used for the dramatic version of "The Birth of Sin" (see
\n\t\t\tthe previous section) and for the dialogue that follows. All these
\n\t\t\tpoems are in the handwriting of the 1909 \u00ad 10 period.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA Dialogue<\/b>. No
\n\t\t\ttitle in the manuscript. Circa 1909. Written in the same notebook and
\n\t\t\tin the same handwriting as "Perfect thy motion" and the dramatic
\n\t\t\tversion of "The Birth of Sin". Unlike that piece, it is
\n\t\t\tnot structured as a play, and so has been printed here as a dramatic
\n\t\t\tpoem.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tNarrative Poems Published in 1910<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tBaji Prabhou.<\/b> Circa 1904 \u00ad 9.
\n\t\t\tSri Aurobindo wrote that this work was "conceived and written in
\n\t\t\tBengal during the period of political activity". This leaves the
\n\t\t\tprecise date of its composition unclear. Sri Aurobindo went to Bengal
\n\t\t\tand openly joined the national movement in February 1906, but he had
\n\t\t\tbeen active behind the scenes for some years before that. A partial
\n\t\t\tdraft of Baji Prabhou <\/i>is found in a note-book he used from
\n\t\t\taround 1902 to around 1910. The handwriting of this draft is that of
\n\t\t\tthe later years in Baroda (1904 \u00ad 6), and it is probable the poem was
\n\t\t\twritten during that period. (Sri Aurobindo spent a good deal of time
\n\t\t\tin Bengal during these years.) Baji Prabhou<\/i> was published for
\n\t\t\tthe first time in three issues of the
\nKarmayogin<\/i>: 19February, 26 February and 5 March 1910. At some point he
\n\t\t\trevised the first instalment of the
\nKarmayogin <\/i>text, but did not make use of this revision subsequently. In
\n\t\t\t1922 he published the Karmayogin<\/i> text (with new, very light,
\n\t\t\trevision) at the Modern Press, Pondicherry. This text became the
\n\t\t\tbasis of a further revised version published in Collected Poems
\n\t\t\tand Plays
\n<\/i>in 1942. This 1942 version is the basis of the present text. (In the version
\n\t\t\tpublished in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\n<\/i>[1972],<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 704<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/i>the
\n\t\t\teditors included readings from the revised Karmayogin <\/i>text.
\n\t\t\tIn the present edition these readings have been ignored, but the 1922
\n\t\t\tand1942 revisions, both approved by Sri Aurobindo, have been
\n\t\t\tincluded.) Chitrangada. 1909 \u00ad 10. This incomplete poem is related in
\n\t\t\ttheme and form to "Uloupie" (see above, Part Two), which Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo wrote around 1901 \u00ad 2. The manuscript of "Uloupie" was
\n\t\t\tconfiscated by the police in 1908 and never returned. There were,
\n\t\t\thowever, two draft passages of the poem in a notebook that Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo had with him in 1909 \u00ad 10, and he apparently drew on these
\n\t\t\tto write Chitrangada<\/i>. Many of the lines in the final version
\n\t\t\tare identical or almost identical to those in the draft passages.
\n\t\t\tSometime before he left Bengal in February1910, he gave the
\n\t\t\tmanuscript of
\nChitrangada <\/i>to the Karmayogin <\/i>staff for publication. The poem
\n\t\t\tappeared in that newspaper in the issues of26 March and 2 April
\n\t\t\t1910. "To be continued" was printed at the end of the second
\n\t\t\tinstalment, but the issue in which it appeared was the last to come
\n\t\t\tout. The manuscript of the rest of the poem has been lost. Around
\n\t\t\t1930, one of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples typed the incomplete poem out
\n\t\t\tfrom the
\nKarmayogin <\/i>and sent it to Sri Aurobindo, who expressed some
\n\t\t\tdissatisfaction with it. In 1937 he indicated that the poem required
\n\t\t\tsome revision before it could be published, but that it was "not the
\n\t\t\tmoment" for that. More than a decade later, he revised
\n\t\t\tChitrangada
\n<\/i>for publication in the 1949 number of the Sri Aurobindo Circle <\/i>annual.
\n\t\t\tThe following note was printed along with the Circle<\/i> text:
\n\t\t\t"Sri Aurobindo had completed this poem but the original has
\n\t\t\tbeen lost,
\n\t\t\tonly this fragment remains. It has been revised for publication."
\n\t\t\tThe
\n\t\t\trevision considerably enlarged the passage containing the speech of
\n\t\t\tChitrangada’s "dying sire". The new lines appear to be the
\n\t\t\tlast poetical lines Sri Aurobindo composed, with the exception of the
\n\t\t\tfinal revisions and additions to Savitri<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems Written in 1910
\n\t\t\tand Published in 1920 \u00ad 1921<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThese three poems have an unusual history. They
\n\t\t\tform part of a manu-script containing material apparently intended
\n\t\t\tfor three issues of the Karmayogin<\/i>. This
\n\t\t\tmanuscript also contains articles on yoga, historical studies,
\n\t\t\tsatirical sketches, and pieces headed "Passing Thoughts", which was
\n\t\t\tthe name Sri Aurobindo gave to his weekly column in the<\/span>706<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 705<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tKarmayogin <\/span> <\/i>early in 1910. (See the Note on the Texts to
\n\t\t\tEarly Cultural Writings<\/i>, volume 1 of THE<\/font> COMPLETE<\/font> WORKS OF<\/font> SRI<\/font>
\n\t\t\tAUROBINDO<\/font>, for more information on this
\n\t\t\t"Chandernagore Manuscript".) In the middle of February 1910, Sri Aurobindo left Calcutta for
\n\t\t\tChandernagore, where he remained for six weeks before departing for
\n\t\t\tPondicherry. It would appear that he left the manuscript containing
\n\t\t\tthese poems behind in Chandernagore, that someone there made copies
\n\t\t\tof the poems and other contents of the manuscript, and that at some
\n\t\t\tpoint the original manuscript was sent to him in Pondicherry. (See
\n\t\t\tArun Chandra Dutt, ed.,
\nLight to Superlight <\/i>[Calcutta: Prabartak Publishers, 1972],p. 207.) In
\n\t\t\t1920 \u00ad 21 defective texts of the poems (as well as some of the other
\n\t\t\tcontents of the manuscript) were published in the
\nStandard Bearer<\/i>, a journal brought out from Chandernagore. Sometime
\n\t\t\tafter their publication, Sri Aurobindo revised the
\nStandard Bearer <\/i>texts. In 1942, the Standard Bearer <\/i>versions were
\n\t\t\tgiven to Sri Aurobindo for further revision before inclusion in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\nand Plays<\/i>. Evidently he and the editors of the volume had
\n\t\t\tby this time forgotten about the existence of the original
\n\t\t\tmanuscripts. These manuscripts, however, are superior to the
\n\t\t\tdefective Standard Bearer <\/i>texts and also to the 1942 version,
\n\t\t\twhich is based on those texts. The editors of the present volume have
\n\t\t\ttherefore based the texts printed here on the original manuscripts,
\n\t\t\tincorporating the deliberate changes made by Sri Aurobindo in 1942.
\n\t\t\tThe texts printed in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\nand Plays<\/i> are included in
\n\t\t\tthe Reference Volume.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe R\u00e1kshasas<\/b>. 1910. This poem was intended for
\n\t\t\tthe first issue of the Karmayogin
\n<\/i>to be printed from the manuscript described in the above note. A corrupt
\n\t\t\tversion was printed in the Standard Bearer <\/i>on14 November
\n\t\t\t1920. This version was revised by Sri Aurobindo for inclusion in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\n\t\t\tand Plays
\n<\/i>in 1942. The present version is based
\n\t\t\ton the original manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKama<\/b>. 1910. This poem was intended for the second issue of
\n\t\t\tthe Karmayogin
\n<\/i>to be printed from the manuscript described in the above note. A corrupt
\n\t\t\tversion was printed in the Standard Bearer <\/i>on 27March 1921.
\n\t\t\tThis version was revised by Sri Aurobindo for inclusion in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\n\t\t\tand Plays
\n<\/i>in 1942. The present version is based
\n\t\t\ton the original manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 706<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/i>
\n\t\t\tThe Mahatmas.<\/b>
\n\t\t\t1910. This poem was intended for the third issue of the Karmayogin
\n<\/i>to be printed from the manuscript described in the above note. In the
\n\t\t\tmanuscript, the poem is entitled "The Mahatmas: Kutthumi". A corrupt
\n\t\t\tversion was printed under the title "The Mahatma Kuthumi" in the
\n\t\t\tStandard Bearer <\/i>on 12 and 26 December 1920.This version was
\n\t\t\trevised by Sri Aurobindo for inclusion in
\nCollected Poems and Plays <\/i>in 1942. The present version is based on the
\n\t\t\toriginal manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> FIVE<\/font>: PONDICHERRY<\/font>,
\nCIRCA<\/font> 1910 \u00ad 1920 <\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo came to Pondicherry in 1910 and remained there until his
\n\t\t\tpassing in 1950. During this period he published four collections of
\n\t\t\tshort poems as well as
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\nand Plays
\n<\/i>(1942). He also published a number of short
\n\t\t\tpoems in journals, and wrote scores of poems, long and short, that
\n\t\t\twere not brought out until after his passing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tTwo Poems in
\n\t\t\tQuantitative Hexameters<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIlion<\/b>. Sri Aurobindo began work on this epic
\n\t\t\tin quantitative hexameters in 1908 or 1909. The earliest surviving
\n\t\t\tmanuscript lines of the poem  \u2014  then entitled "The Fall of
\n\t\t\tTroy: An Epic"  \u2014  were dated by the author as follows:
\n\t\t\t"Commenced in jail, 1909, resumed and completed in Pondicherry, April
\n\t\t\tand May 1910." Between then and 1914, he worked steadily on this
\n\t\t\t"completed" poem, transforming it from a brief narrative into an epic
\n\t\t\tmade up of several books. During the first stage of this enlargement,
\n\t\t\tbetween April 1910 and March 1913, he produced almost a dozen drafts
\n\t\t\tof the first book and a smaller number of drafts of the second. In
\n\t\t\tMarch 1913, a sudden fluency permitted him to complete and revise a
\n\t\t\tversion of the epic extending up to the end of what is now Book VIII.
\n\t\t\tHe wrote the fragmentary ninth book (untitled and not actually headed
\n\t\t\t"Book IX" in the manuscript) in 1914. Probably before then, he copied
\n\t\t\tout the first eight books into notebooks that bear the title
\nIlion<\/i>. Subsequently he revised and recopied the completed books, or
\n\t\t\tpassages from them, several times. This work continued until around
\n\t\t\t1917. It would appear that two<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 707<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tfactors 
\n\t\t\t\u2014  the writing-load of the monthly journal Arya <\/i>(1914 \u00ad
\n\t\t\t21)and the attention demanded by his other epic,
\nSavitri <\/i> \u2014  caused him to stop work on Ilion <\/i>before completing
\n\t\t\twhat presumably was intended to be a twelve-book epic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDuring the
\n\t\t\ttwenties and thirties, Sri Aurobindo returned to Ilion<\/i> from
\n\t\t\ttime to time. As late as 1935, he complained jocularly that if he
\n\t\t\tcould get an hour’s freedom from his correspondence every day, "in
\n\t\t\tanother three years
\nSavitri <\/i>and Ilion <\/i>and I don’t know how much more would all be
\n\t\t\trewritten, finished, resplendently complete". He in fact never found
\n\t\t\ttime to complete
\nIlion<\/i>, but in 1942 he revised the opening of the first book to serve as an
\n\t\t\tillustration of the quantitative hexameter in "On Quantitative Metre",
\n\t\t\tan essay that was published in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\nand Plays
\n<\/i>in
\n\t\t\t1942 and also in a separate booklet issued the same year. This
\n\t\t\trevised passage of 371 lines was the only portion of Ilion <\/i>to
\n\t\t\tappear in print during his lifetime. The full text was transcribed
\n\t\t\tfrom his manuscripts and published in 1957. A new edition, corrected
\n\t\t\tagainst the manuscripts and with the addition of the opening of the
\n\t\t\tfragmentary ninth book, was brought out in 1989. The present text has
\n\t\t\tbeen rechecked against the manuscripts. Ahana. This poem in rhymed
\n\t\t\thexametric couplets, grew out of "The Descent of Ahana" (see below),
\n\t\t\twhich took its final form around1912 \u00ad 13. "The Descent of Ahana" is
\n\t\t\tdivided into two parts. The first part consists of a long dialogue
\n\t\t\tbetween Ahana and "Voices"; the second consists of a speech by Ahana,
\n\t\t\ta speech by "A Voice", and a final speech by Ahana. In the final
\n\t\t\tdraft of "The Descent", the last two speeches of the second part
\n\t\t\tcomprise 160 lines. In or before 1915,Sri Aurobindo revised and
\n\t\t\tenlarged these 160 lines into the 171-linepoem that was published in
\nAhana and Other Poems<\/i>. In this version, Sri Aurobindo added a head-note
\n\t\t\tsetting the scene of the poem and a footnote glossing the term "R\u00e2s".
\n\t\t\tSometime after 1915, he revised the1915 text, but apparently forgot
\n\t\t\tabout this revision, which has never been published. In or before
\n\t\t\t1942, he again revised the 1915 text for publication in
\n\t\t\tCollected Poems
\nand Plays<\/i. This 1942 revision broughtthe poem to its
\n\t\t\tpresent length of 518 lines.<\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 708<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i>
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems from
\n\t\t\tManuscripts, circa 1912 \u00ad 1913<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Descent of Ahana<\/b>. Circa 1912 \u00ad 13.
\n\t\t\tThe earliest known draft of this poem is found among the papers that
\n\t\t\tthe police seized from Sri Aurobindo’s room when he was arrested in
\n\t\t\tMay 1908. A complete air copy is found in a manuscript notebook that
\n\t\t\tmay be dated circa1912 \u00ad 13. The second part of the fair copy was
\n\t\t\tsubsequently revised and published under the title "Ahana" in
\n\t\t\tAhana and Other Poems<\/i>(1915). See the note to "Ahana" in the
\n\t\t\tprevious section.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Meditations of Mandavya<\/b>. 1913. Sri Aurobindo
\n\t\t\twrote the date "April 12, 1913" at the end of a draft of the first
\n\t\t\tpart of this poem. The incident of the scorpion-sting happened before
\n\t\t\t14 February 1911,when Sri Aurobindo mentioned it in
\nRecord of Yoga <\/i>as something that had happened in the past. In the mid
\n\t\t\t1930s, when the book entitled Poems Past and Present
\n<\/i>was being prepared, a copy of "The Meditations of Mandavya" was typed for Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo, who revised it lightly. He chose however not to include
\n\t\t\tthe poem in that collection. The revisions done at that time are
\n\t\t\tincorporated in the text for the first time in the present
\n\t\t\tedition.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIncomplete Poems from Manuscripts, circa 1912 \u00ad 1920<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThou who
\n\t\t\tcontrollest<\/b>. No title in the manuscript. Circa 1912. Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo
\n\t\t\twrote these lines in dactylic hexameter inside the back cover of a
\n\t\t\tnotebook that he used sometime before November 1912.He was working
\n\t\t\ton Ilion <\/i>at this time, but these lines do not seem to belong
\n\t\t\tto that poem. Neither do they appear to be a translation of lines
\n\t\t\tfrom the Iliad<\/i>, the Odyssey <\/i>or any other classical
\n\t\t\ttext.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tSole in the meadows of Thebes<\/b>. No title in the manuscript.
\n\t\t\t1913.Written on the same manuscript page as the following poem, at
\n\t\t\taround the same time. It is almost certainly to this poem that Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo was referring when he wrote in Record of Yoga <\/i>on 21
\n\t\t\tSeptember 1913of beginning an "Eclogue in hexameter".<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tO Will of God.<\/b>
\n\t\t\tNo title in the manuscript. 1913. Written on the same manuscript page
\n\t\t\tas the previous poem.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Tale of Nala [1]<\/b>. Circa 1916 \u00ad 20. There
\n\t\t\tare very few clues by<\/span>710<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 709<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\twhich this incomplete
\n\t\t\tpoem might be dated. Judging from the hand-writing, it was composed
\n\t\t\ttowards the end of the second decade of the century. It obviously is
\n\t\t\tbased on the story of Nala, as recounted in the Mahabharata and later
\n\t\t\ttexts, but does not seem to be a translation of any known Sanskrit
\n\t\t\twork. The passages separated by a blank line were written separately
\n\t\t\tand not joined together.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Tale of Nala [2]<\/b>. Circa 1916 \u00ad 20. Sri
\n\t\t\tAurobindo seems to have written this rhymed version of the opening of
\n\t\t\this proposed poem on Nala after the blank verse version. He retained
\n\t\t\tseveral lines from the earlier version unchanged or practically
\n\t\t\tunchanged.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPART<\/font> SIX<\/font>: BARODA
\n\t\t\tAND<\/font> PONDICHERRY<\/font>, CIRCA<\/font> 1902 \u00ad 1936<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPoems
\n\t\t\tPast and Present<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThese eight poems were published as a booklet by
\n\t\t\tthe Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1946. (Four of them  \u2014  "Musa
\n\t\t\tSpiritus", "Bride of the Fire", "The Blue Bird" and "A God’s Labour" 
\n\t\t\t\u2014  had appeared in journals connected with the Ashram earlier
\n\t\t\tthe same year.) All the poems were written at least a decade, one of
\n\t\t\tthem four and a half decades, before 1946. The first draft of "Hell
\n\t\t\tand Heaven" dates back to around 1902, early drafts of "Kamadeva" and
\n\t\t\t"Life" to around1913. A notebook containing these three early poems
\n\t\t\twas uncovered by Sri Aurobindo’s secretary, Nolini Kanta Gupta, in
\n\t\t\tApril 1932. He typed out copies and sent them to Sri Aurobindo with
\n\t\t\tthis note: "I have copied these poems out of a notebook that was
\n\t\t\tbeing hopelessly eaten away by insects. I do not know how far I have
\n\t\t\tbeen able to recover the text." Sri Aurobindo revised these poems
\n\t\t\taround that time, adding a fourth, "One Day", while he worked.
\n\t\t\tSeveral years later these four poems were published along with four
\n\t\t\tthat had been written in 1935and 1936 under the title
\nPoems Past and Present<\/i>. The eight poems are reproduced here in the order
\n\t\t\tin which they are printed in that book.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tMusa Spiritus<\/b>. 1935. An early
\n\t\t\tdraft of this poem occurs between drafts of "A God’s Labour" and "The
\n\t\t\tBlue Bird" (see below). Sri Aurobindo wrote the date "31.7.35" at the
\n\t\t\tend of a later draft. There are two<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 710<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/i>handwritten
\n\t\t\tmanuscripts and one typed manuscript of this poem. Bride of the Fire.
\n\t\t\t1935. The first draft of this poem is dated 11 November 1935. There
\n\t\t\tare two handwritten and two typed manuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tThe Blue Bird<\/b>. 1935.
\n\t\t\tThe first draft of this poem is dated 11 November1935. There are two
\n\t\t\thandwritten and two typed manuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tA God’s Labour<\/b>. 1935 \u00ad 36. A
\n\t\t\tlate draft of this poem is dated as follows:"31.7.35 \/ Last 4
\n\t\t\tstanzas 1.1.36". There are four handwritten and two typed
\n\t\t\tmanuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tHell and Heaven<\/b>. Circa 1902 \u00ad 30s. The earliest extant
\n\t\t\tdraft of this poem is found in the typed manuscript that contains
\n\t\t\tdrafts of "To the Ganges", "To the Boers", etc. (see above, Part
\n\t\t\tThree). Around 1912 Sri Aurobindo copied the poem out by hand in a
\n\t\t\tnotebook. Twenty years later, his secretary Nolini Kanta Gupta typed
\n\t\t\tthis and the next two poems out from this notebook and presented them
\n\t\t\tto Sri Aurobindo for revision. Fourteen years after that they were
\n\t\t\tincluded in Poems Past and Present<\/i>. There are one handwritten
\n\t\t\tand two typed manuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKamadeva<\/b>. Circa 1913. The earliest
\n\t\t\tsurviving drafts of this poem and the next one are found in the
\n\t\t\tnotebook that contains "The Meditations of Mandavya" (see
\n\t\t\tabove, Part Five), the opening of which is dated1913. In 1932 they
\n\t\t\twere typed out and fourteen years later included in Poems Past and Present<\/i>.
\n\t\t\tThere is one handwritten and one typed manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tLife<\/b>. Circa 1913.
\n\t\t\tThe earliest surviving drafts of this poem and the previous one are
\n\t\t\tfound in the notebook that contains "The Meditations of
\n\t\t\tMandavya" (see above, Part Five), the opening of which is dated1913.
\n\t\t\tIn 1932 they were typed out and fourteen years later included in Poems
\n\t\t\tPast and Present<\/i>. There is one handwritten and one
\n\t\t\ttyped manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tOne Day<\/b>. Circa 1932. Sri Aurobindo wrote the first
\n\t\t\tdraft of this poem in the notebook containing drafts of the previous
\n\t\t\tthree poems, which Nolini Kanta Gupta uncovered and sent to him in
\n\t\t\t1932. This draft was lightly revised and later included in
\nPoems Past and Present<\/i>. There is one handwritten and one typed manuscript.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 711<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Note on the Texts     Note on the Texts   Sri Aurobindo once wrote that he was “a poet and a politician” first, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-collected-poems","wpcat-57-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982","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=2982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}