Sri Aurobindo's principal work of literary criticism where he outlines the history of English poetry and explores the possibility of a spiritual poetry in the future.
On Poetry
Sri Aurobindo's principal work of literary criticism. In this work, Sri Aurobindo outlines the history of English poetry and explores the possibility of a spiritual poetry in the future. It was first published in a series of essays between 1917 and 1920; parts were later revised for publication as a book.
THEME/S
Lines 1, 2, three antispasts (or in the first foot a second paeon), amphibrach,
Line 3, two antispasts, ionic a majore, second paeon, trochee,
Line 4, three paeons, trochee, but the middle paeon can be replaced by an antispast or an ionic a majore; a double iamb once replaces the third paeon.
The clouds lain on forlorn spaces of sky, weary and lolling, Watch grey waves of a lost sea wander sad, reckless and rolling, A bare anguish of bleak beaches made mournful with the breath of the Northwind And a huddle of melancholy hills in the distance.
The blank hour in some vast mood of a Soul lonely in Nature On earth's face puts a mask pregnantly carved, cut to misfeature, And man's heart and his stilled mind react hushed in a spiritual passion Imitating the contours of her desolate waiting.
Impassible she waits long for the sun's gold and the azure, The sea's song with its slow happy refrain's plashes of pleasure,— As man's soul in its depths waits the outbreaking of the light and the godhead And the bliss that God felt when he created his image.
Page 382
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