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On the Publication of His Poetry
The Question of Publication
I do not attach much importance to the publication or non publication of my poetry and never have done. Most of it (the published part) appeared five, ten, fifteen or even thirty or more years after they were written. The few recently published in magazines (not all of them new, e.g. the sonnets) owed their fate to Nolini’s eagerness and not to my initiative. But the vast bulk of what I have written (long poems mostly) lies on shelf and in drawer, most of it for more than a decade, awaiting either dissolution or an interminable revision or total recasting which at the present rate may well retain them there a decade or two more. But that is my own idiosyncrasy ―it cannot be a rule or example for others. However, for those that are “circulated” Nolini and Doraiswami have found a trick which ―I hope ― will prevent any farther push for premature publication in the future ―i.e. printing them as they come and letting them pile up for private circulation hereafter. 8 January 1935
On an Early Publication Proposal
Here are my selections from your shorter poems. Dara wants me 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 suggests, by the Aligarh or Osmania University. But please tell me: is this Aligarh or Osmania University business a possible scheme? . . . What about Love and Death and Baji Prabhou? Are they to be printed in toto or in part?
I have not the least notion whether it is possible; I suppose that ordinarily no University in India would accept as text-book the (English) poems of a writer not yet consecrated (qua poet) by
Page-359 European fame. It is Dara’s idea; I don’t know if the Osmania or Aligarh Universities are really so original and unconventional as 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, and 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 that circumstances arise and, because one is not ready with the materials, a chance is lost of getting something done. Love and Death is too long for inclusion in a book of selections; passages would be sufficient. For Baji Prabhou that holds still more, since it has not so much poetic value as Love and Death. As to your selections, it seems to me that you have chosen with judgment and taste; but the comparative judgment of a poet on his own writings is so often at fault that outside voices are needed for confirmation ―even though I fancy I have a sufficient attitude of detachment towards my past work. But perhaps detachment is not enough. P.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 “perfect hexameter”. 22 July 1932
A Selection of Short Poems
1 Transformation 2 Bird of Fire √ 3 Rose of God √ 4 Who? 5 Revelation 6 To the Sea 7 God 8 Invitation 9 Epigram on Goethe 10 Renewal 11 Descent 12 Estelle (I find this is not a translation)
Page-360 I think these may be sent for his own selection of six. No translation or extracts from dramas or long poems are included, only short poems and small lyrics. The mark √ means that we think these two ought to be included in any selection made.
On Two Proposals to Publish Love and Death in England
By the way, the copy of your Love and Death is ready to go to England. I wonder how the critics will receive the poem.
You expect . . . Love and Death 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 that, I shall be neither astonished nor discomfited. I know the limitations of the poem and its qualities and I know that the part about the descent into Hell can stand comparison with some of the best English poetry; but I don’t expect my contemporaries to see it. If they do, it will be good luck or divine grace, that is all. 2 February 1932
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I am afraid you are under an illusion as to the success of Love and Death in England. Love and Death dates, ―it belongs to the time when Meredith and Phillips were still writing and Yeats and A.E. were only in bud if not in ovo. Since then the wind has changed and even Yeats and A.E. are already a little high and dry on the sands of the past, while the form, manner, characteristics of Love and Death are just the things that are anathema to the post-war writers and literary critics. I fear it would be, if not altogether ignored which is most likely, regarded as a feeble and belated Indian imitation of an exploded literary model dead and buried 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 highbrows. If it had been published when it was written, it might have been a success ―but now! Of course, I know that there are many people still in England, if it got into their hands, who
Page-361 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 go with Love and Death. When the time comes for publication, the sonnets will have to be published in a separate book of Sonnets and the others in another separate book of (mainly) lyrical poems ―so it cannot be now. That at least is my present idea. 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 premature. One thing however could be done. Prithwi Singh could send his friend Love and Death and perhaps the Six Poems and sound the publishers as to whether the publication, in their eyes, would be worthwhile from their point of view. That would at least give a clue. 24 October 1934
On Two Other Publication Proposals
I have seen the opinion of the publisher consulted by Amiya Chakrabarty: Dilip’s friend, the novelist Thompson, has also written to him offering to get a small selection of my poems published. Both opinions agree that poetry has very little chance of success nowadays. Thompson says that poetry is out of fashion; the publisher also indicates that new and original poetry has very little chance with the public. I believe they are both right. I also agree that if anything is to be published in Europe, it should be something in prose rather than in poetry. But I do not feel inclined to be in any haste in either direction; when anything of the kind ought to happen ―I mean “ought” from the inner truth of things, I suppose it will arrange itself. You will remember that when I consented to let your friend show my poems to some publishers there, it was more to know what they would say and how they would take such poetry of an entirely new kind (I speak of course of the six poems and the sonnets) and not with an idea of immediate publication. Neither mere selling nor having the books in good print and in a good and pleasing form seems to me a sufficient justification for the expenditure. If publication agrees with an inner truth and serves
Page-362 a 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 of view the right one. 16 June 1935
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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 invite an interest or bring things like the Nobel Prize etc.
You are mistaken. Nobody in England now reads poetry except for a very small circle of readers and in India poetry in English does not command a public. The time has not come.
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