Letters of Sri Aurobindo
(On Poetry and Literature)
Third Series
Contents
Pre-Contents
Foreword
Section One
The Process, Form and Substance of Poetry
1.
Three Elements of Poetic Creation.
2.
Three Essentials for Writing Poetry.
3.
Essence of Inspiration.
4.
Poetic Fluency.
5.
Inspiration and Effort.
6.
Correction by Second Inspiration.
7.
Joy of Poetic Creation.
8.
Pressure of Creative Formation
9.
Form and Substance of Poetry.
10.
Rhythm and Significance
11.
Types of Perfection in Poetry.
12.
Poetic Austerity and Exuberance (1)
13.
Poetic Austerity and Exuberance (2)
14.
Poetic Austerity and Exuberance (3)
15.
Poetic Austerity and Exuberance (4)
16.
Epic Greatness and Sublimity
17.
Poetic Nobility and Grandeur: Epic and Ballad Movements.
18
Philosophy in Poetry.
19.
Mystic Poetry - Philosophising in Poetry-Objection to Repetition
20.
Poetic Intuition and Critical Intellect.
21.
The Two Parts of the Poetic Creator.
22.
Need of Life-Experience for Literary Creation.
23.
Relation between the Personal Character and Life-Experience and the Work of an Artist.
24.
The Illusion of Realism (1)
25.
The Illusion of Realism (2)
Section Two
Sources of Poetic Inspiration and Vision ―Mystic and Spiritual Poetry
Sources of Poetic Inspiration.
Vital Poetry.
The World of Word-Music
Earth-Memory Art–Dream Inspiration
Poetry of the Inner Mind and Dynamic Vision
Poetic Intelligence and Higher Mind.
True Inspiration and Poetic Rhetoric
A Personal Appreciation
Poetry of the Intuitive Mind.
Poetry of Spiritual Vision
Mystic and Spiritual Poetry.
Mystic Poetry of Higher and Lower Planes.
Sunlight and Moonlight Mystic Poetry-Inspiration and Revelation.
Symbolic and Mystic Poetry.
A Comparison between Arjava’s "Totalitarian" and Walter de la Mare’s "Listeners".
A Comparison between A’S "Pharphar" and Walter de la Mare’s "Arabia".
Truth behind Poetic Images.
18.
Mystic Symbols.
Symbolism and Allegory (1)
Symbolism and Allegory (2 )
Psychic and Esoteric Poetry.
Psychic and Overhead Inspiration
Overhead Poetry.
Overmind Rhythm and Inspiration
The Mantra
26.
Overmind and Aesthetics–Critical, Intellect and Mystical Poetry.
27.
Use of "High-Light" Words in Spiritual Poetry.
28.
Use of Undignified Words in Poetry.
29.
Overhead Inspiration and Overmind Aesthesis.
30.
Greatness and Beauty on Poetry.
Section Three
Poetic Rhythm and Technique
1
Two Factors in Poetic Rhythm
2
Importance of Metre and Technique
3
Inspiration and Study of Technique.
4
English Quantitative Verse and Classical, Metres – Melody of English and Bengali Languages.
5
Comments on Milford’s Views on Quantity in English Verse.
6
Quantitative Metre in Bengali Poetry.
7
Failure of Early English Hexameter.
8
Accent in English Rhythm.
9
The Alexandrine.
10
Octosyllabic Metre
11
Combination of Iambics and Anapaests.
12
The Problem of Free Verse.
13
Imperfect Rhymes.
14
Bengali Gadya-Chhanda.
15
Invention of New Metres.
16
Unpopularity of New Metres–Cryptic Poetry
17
Comments on some Experiments in Metre (1)
Comments on some Experiments in Metre (2)
19
Comments on some Experiments in Metre (3)
20
Comments on some Experiments in Metre (4)
21
Nursery Rhymes and Popular Songs.
22
Difference between a Song and a Poem.
23
Sonnet and Satire
Section Four
Translation of Poetry
Two Ways of Translating Poetry
Freedom in Translation
Literalness in Translation
Importance of Turn of Language in Translation
Difficulty of Catching Subtleties in Translation
Translation of Prose into Poetry
Remarks on Bengali Translation of an English Poem.
Remarks on Bengali Translation of "Six Poems"
Remarks on Bengali Translation of a Poem of Shelley
Shelley’s Skylark–Imperfections of Great poets Essential significance of Shelley’s Poetry
Difficulty of Translating Urdu Songs into English–Preference of Krishna to Rama.
Section Five
Modern Poetry
Contemporary English poetry (1)
Contemporary English poetry (2)
Contemporary English poetry (3)
Latest Trend in English Poetry
Modern Art and Poetry
Surrealist Poetry (1)
Surrealist Poetry (2)
Section Six
Indo-English Poetry
Achievement of Indo-English Poetry–literary Decadence in Europe
Future of Indo-English Poetry
Mental Theories and Poetic Freedom
Pitfalls of Indo-English Blank Verse
Practical Suggestions for Writing English Poetry (1)
Practical Suggestions for Writing English Poetry(2)
Requirements for Writing Good English
Current Use of English Language
Section Seven
Appreciation of Poetry and Art
Appreciation of Poetic Value
Subjective Element in Criticism of poetry and Art
Experience of Beauty
Contemporary Judgment of Poetry
Abiding Intuition of Poetic and Artistic Greatness
Final Verdict on Creative Work
Comparison of the Arts
Poetry and Novel
Musical Excellence and General Culture
Comment on Croce’s Theory of Aesthetics
Section Eight
Poetic Creation and Yoga–Utility of Literature, etc. in Sadhana
Reading and Poetic Creation and Yoga
Poetic Creation and Yoga
Silence and Creative Activity
Creation by the Word
Writing for the Divine
Development of Mind and Sadhana
Reading and Real knowledge
Spiritual Value of Poetry
Utility of Literature, etc. in Yoga (1)
Utility of Literature, etc. in Yoga (2)
Utility of Literature, etc. in Yoga (3)
Literature and Change of Nature
Novel-Read=> Section Nine
Poets–Mystics–Intellectuals
The Poet and the Yogi
The Poet and the Prophet
Born Poet and Genius
Genius and Yoga
Classification of the World’s Greatest Poets (1)
Classification of the World’s Greatest Poets (2)
Goethe and Shakespeare; Homer, Vyasa and Valmiki
Importance of the Power of Poetic Expression
Blake (1)
Blake (2)
Yeats and AE
Yeats and the Occult (1)
Yeats and the Occult (2)
147
D.H. Lawrence (1)
D.H. Lawrence (2)
D.H. Lawrence and Modern Poetry (1)
D.H. Lawrence and Modern Poetry (2)
D.H. Lawrence–Human Ego-Centricity–Attitudes towards Human Defects
Wordsworth’s Realisation
Coleridge’s "Ancient Mariner"
Browning
Baudelaire
Michael Madhusudan
24
Great Prose-Writers
25
Intellectual Capacity of Mystics
26
The Mystic and the Intellectual–Bernard Shaw
27
Estimate of Bernard Shaw
28
Wells–Chesterton–Shaw
29
Shaw as a Creative Mind
30
Bertrand Russell
31
Comment on a Statement of B. Russell
32
Anatole France
33
Bhatkhande