Hippocrene : fountain on Mount Helicon in Boeotia (q.v.) sacred to the Muses, having been produced by the stroke of a hoof of Pegasus (q.v.).
... do not mark any climax or anticlimax, but there is a steady, almost unconcerned, flow from the source to its sea of calm emerald accomplishment. Where does this source of inspiration lie, this Hippocrene of the Mystic? In the overhead and not in the underheart, not in the secret region behind the throbbing center of emotions, not in the psychic, but somewhere on the northern slopes of Mount Helicon ...
... is what has apparently happened: a supersensibility for Greek and an impeccable feeling for the nuances of English sound and rhythm have enabled the youthful Sri Aurobindo to invoke the blushful Hippocrene herself with infallible Page 40 success. What can be more sensuously Greek and reminiscently Keatsian than Night by the Sea, with its lilt and sparkle, and its suggestion of mystery... he is returning to — For in Sicilian olive-groves no more Or seldom must my footprints now be seen, Nor tread Athenian lanes, nor yet explore Parnassus or thy voiceful shores, O Hippocrene. Me from her lotus heaven Saraswati Has called to regions of eternal snow And Ganges pacing to the southern sea, Ganges upon whose shores the flowers of Eden blow. 57 No ...
... that my lips shall ne'er attain. For in Sicilian olive-groves no more Or seldom must my footprints now be seen, Nor tread Athenian lanes, nor yet explore Parnassus or thy voiceful shores, O Hippocrene. Me from her lotus heaven Saraswati Has called to regions of eternal snow And Ganges pacing to the southern sea, Ganges upon whose shores the flowers of Eden blow. Page 37 ...
... we do not mark any climax or anticlimax, but there is a steady, almost unconcerned, flow from the source to its sea of calm emerald accomplishment. Where does this source of inspiration lie, this Hippocrene of the Mystic? In the overhead and not in the under-heart, not in the secret region behind the throbbing center of emotions, not in the psychic, but somewhere on the northern slopes of Mount Helicon ...
... also in the Greek mythology; but there the Muses are not conceived of as rivers; they are only connected in a not very intelligible fashion with a particular earthly stream. This stream is the river Hippocrene, the fountain of the Horse, and to account for its name we have a legend that it sprang from the hoof of the divine horse Pegasus; for he smote the rock with his hoof and the waters of inspiration ...
... The Sources of Poetry The swiftness of the muse has been embodied in the image of Pegasus, the heavenly horse of Greek legend; it was from the rapid beat of his hoofs on the rock that Hippocrene flowed. The waters of Poetry flow in a current or a torrent; where there is a pause or a denial, it is a sign of obstruction in the stream or of imperfection in the mind which the waters have chosen ...
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