... (Jonathan Cape, London, 1933). Frazer, Sri James George. Man, God and Immortality: Thoughts on Human Progress (Macmillan, London, 1927). Gayley, CM. Methods and Materials of Literary Criticism: Lyric, Epic, and allied forms of Poetry (New York, 1919). The Principles of Poetry (New York, 1904). Gilson, Etienne. Dante the Philosopher, translated by David... (Sri Aurobindo Karyalaya, Anand, 1949). Ray, Prithwis Chandra. Life and Times of C. R. Das (Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1927). Read, Sri Herbert. Collected Essays in Literary Criticism (Faber & Faber, London, 1938). Richards, LA. Coleridge on Imagination (Roudedge, London, 2 nd Edition, 1950). Science and Poetry (Kegan Paul, London, 1926).... 8c Warburg, London, 1946). Sansom, Clive. (Ed.) The World of Poetry : Poets and Critics on Art and Functions of Poetry (Phoenix House, London, 1959). Santayana, George. Essays in Literary Criticism, Selected and edited by Irving Singer (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1956). Three Philosophical Poets : Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe (Harvard University Press, Cambridge ...
... 18. The House of the Titans, pp. 1-2. 19. Essays in Literary Criticism, edited by Irving Singer, p. 403. 20. ibid , p. 405. 21. See Wellek & Warren, Theory of Literature, p. 195. 22. Quoted in Cassirer, Language and Myth, p. 5. 23. Collected Essays in Literary Criticism, p. 101. 24. Language and Myth, p. 99. See also Berdyaev:... the revelations of the mystic would then be grounded not only upon subconscious memory and instinct, but also upon the influx of energy from a larger Self." 38. Collected Essays in Literary Criticism, p. 44. 39. Quoted in The Imprisoned Splendour, p. 81. 40. The Destiny of the Mind, p. 122. Also Robert Graves:"... it is not too much to say that all original discoveries... and of what may be called analeptic thought, the recovery of lost events bv the same suspension ..."(The White Goddess, p. 280). 41. R.G. Collingwood, quoted in Wimsatt & Brooks, Literary Criticism, p. 603. 42. Erich Kahler, in Problems in Aesthetics (Ed.byWeitz),p.l71. 43. Brockington, Mysticim and Poetry, p. 124. 44. Cf. Sri Aurobindo: "The soul of ...
... on of an Indian school of literary criticism- Narasimhaiah notes with anguish that this lead was not followed by our academics and even today, nearly seventy years after The Future Poetry, we continue to produce literary criticism which is derivative and imitative of the West. What Narasimhaiah has pointed out about Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism is true in my view of Sri ... The Foundations of Indian Culture. His comprehensive writings on yoga, on the evolution of social and political institutions, on the desirability and possibility of a World Union, on literary criticism, his exegeses of Indian scriptural literature, his scintillating letters on a variety of life-problems, and his literary output which finds its crowning achievement in the cosmic epic Savitri ...
... or else paraphrase a number of passages from Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism. But I should think a mode more relevant to a series of discourses on the Poet Sri Aurobindo would be to pick out lines from his greatest poem— Savitri —and lay bare with their help his view on being a poet and, wherever necessary, use the literary criticism for confirmation. Academics may frown but the poetry-reader is ...
... else paraphrase a number of passages from Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism. But I should think a mode more relevant in a series of discourses on the Poet Sri Aurobindo would be to pick out lines from his greatest poem - Savitri - and lay bare with their help his view on being a poet and, wherever necessary, use the literary criticism for confirmation. Academics may frov but the poetry-reader ...
... string together or else paraphrase a number of passages from Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism. But I should think a mode more relevant to the poet Sri Aurobindo would be to pick out lines from his greatest poem Savitri and lay bare with their help his view on being a poet and, wherever necessary, use the literary criticism for confirmation. Academics may frown but the poetry-reader is'likely to ...
... poets of the English language who have not been able to appreciate in full the genre of poetry Sri Aurobindo has written, have been highly impressed by the eminent worth and quality of his literary criticism. One of them has gone as far as to say that while going through Sri Aurobindo's The Future Poetry and his Letters on Poetry, Literature and Art she felt like marking marginal lines almost... almost on every page of Sri Aurobindo's writings, for they Page 177 seemed to her so important for further reflection and future reference. And the field of Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism has been so wide and varied! Some of the topics he has adequately dealt with are as follows: The Essence of Poetry; Rhythm and Movement; Style and Substance; Poetic Vision and the Mantra; The ...
... they were beings of an immense versatility. Combined with towering spiritual attainment, Sri Aurobindo brought a rare genius in political thought, philosophical ideation, poetic expression, literary criticism, while the Mother stood as a most gifted painter and musician no less than as an expert on all life-problems and a supreme organiser. In addition, there was a warmth of heart and a charm of ...
... encouraged by the reactions of an amateur. "Your appreciation of my 'Kandahar' has bucked me up no end," he wrote. In the same letter one notices his pressing eagerness to see his adventures in literary criticism published. Once again I failed to convince anyone in Calcutta to publish Amal's unconventional research. I used to act as the Devil's Advocate for Amal, bringing to his notice any news or studies ...
... Symbolism in Savitri 1: Imagery, Symbols and Poetry Images and image-making have been regarded as the mark of poetic genius. From Aristotle onward, when a systematic and organised literary criticism came into existence, critics in their opinions and poets in practice have been insisting on this aspect of poetry. "The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor" as Herbert Read ...
... proper spirit to grow in it, there is no doubt that it will draw happy approbation of the author himself. Page 141 Jnaneshwari has in it poetry, philosophy, science of Yoga, literary criticism, inherited knowledge and it is necessary for us to profit from it. The problem will therefore be to preserve this lore, assuring that yogic-spiritual aspects will not suffer in any way. Can this ...
... had often his tongue in his cheek, but he never lost a chance to comment on the essential nature of poetry. Coming from an indefatigable theoretician of aesthetics, the statement is a bit of literary criticism rather than a piece of academic witticism. It is meant to endow poetry with a special function in words, by which it would stand in particular contrast to what is written with ideas. ...
... culture a fresh validity. That is quite enough for my purpose. I have been reading of late Sri Aurobindo's criticism of Savitri 1 in 'Mother India'. I wish Srsi Aurobindo's comments on literary criticism may be collected in book-form. Who is Rishabh Chand? His exposition is masterly. More when we meet. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, K. M. Munshi 1. Editor's ...
... anywhere being in full control of most of them - poetry alone I have scoured from end to end to the extent my extreme familiarity with English allows. Beyond poetry what has most drawn me is literary criticism, philosophical speculation, scientific thought, historical research. I believe I have contributed a bit of original work to each of these branches of knowledge, even though not of an outstanding ...
... time and it's a job dealing with all of them almost together. One of the results in the past of this multitude of me's is that I have 23 unpublished books on subjects fairly wide apart: poetry, literary criticism, philosophical thought, scientific perspectives, history, archaeology, scriptural exegesis, translation from the French. On top of all the author-characters jostling one another, there is the ...
... y, Comparative Mythology, the Study of Hellenic Literature and Culture, Indian systems of Yoga, International Affairs, the question of the English language and the Indian spirit, Philosophy, Literary Criticism, Mystical, Spiritual and Scientific Thought, the Structure of Thought in Modern Physics and Biology... the list is endless! II The Problem and The Prospects Making ...
... mean part of the inspiration which led Roy beyond the interviews to some extra features, the most precious being a substantial sheaf of letters of Sri Aurobindo's, nearly seventy pages of literary criticism, philosophical discussion, mystical knowledge, socio-political analysis, marked by insight, energy and humour. Romain Rolland The order in which the interviews ...
... result is an incredible bulk of prose writings. With so much of his works published till now, Sethna still remains the most unpublished author in India. Superlatives are suspect in literary criticism, but there are times when a major truth is contained in a superlative phrase. I have very little hesitation in calling him the greatest living mystic poet- He blends with great effect the ...
... The Future Poetry Chapter I The Mantra It is not often that we see published in India literary criticism which is of the first order, at once discerning and suggestive, criticism which forces us both to see and think. A book which recently I have read and more than once reperused with a yet unexhausted pleasure and fruitfulness, Mr. James Cousins' New ...
... launched in Bombay. Its editor was K. D. Sethna, who had been a resident member of the Ashram between 1928 and 1938, and remained in close contact with Sri Aurobindo. Along with articles on yoga, literary criticism, and poetry, Mother India published commentary on political affairs. Sethna wrote to Sri Aurobindo for guidance when writing such articles, and Sri Aurobindo often replied. Eleven of his ...
... Page 3 On these experiences we cannot do better than listen to the master of the most integral form of the spiritual discipline that is Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, who was also a master of literary criticism and himself a rare poet of both Life and Spirit, with even a phrase which is the most memorable outside Blake on the Tiger - Gleaming eyes and mighty chest and soft soundless paws of ...
... much shorter than its predecessor. It must be in your hands now - perhaps while I am writing this aerogramme you are poring over my script. I am glad you are appreciating Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism so much and reading it with great attention. But I don't think that in the course of your conning it you first came across the bit about his not being primarily a poet. It occurs in the middle ...
... no mean part of the inspiration which led Roy beyond the interviews to some extra features, the most precious being a substantial sheaf of letters of Sri Aurobindo's, nearly seventy pages of literary criticism, philosophical discussion, mystical knowledge, socio-political analysis, marked by insight, energy and humour. Romain Rolland The order in which the interviews are arranged is ...
... posit these levels and beyond them the Supermind: having had direct experience of them by means of his "Integral Yoga" he has described them and their workings in detail and, in his works of literary criticism, illustrated their peculiar seeing, verbal quality and expressive rhythm. Not finding any knowledge of these "planes" in Gopi Krishna, Vivekananda or even Ramakrishna, Nair finds fault with Sri ...
... thinking; there is a great deal about individual morality — the balance of impulses under the control of reason, the passionate desire for truth, the underlying religious seriousness. There is literary criticism, there is philosophy, there is a wealth of incidental comment on many things. When we do come to politics we find that Plato has little sympathy with the kind of outlook we should call "democratic" ...
... and deeper understanding of Page 7 his Master's poetic genius. Sri Aurobindo was already a poet even before he became a politician and a Yogi. When K.D.S. penned a piece of literary criticism and gave it the title of "Sri Aurobindo as a Poet", the Master found the title rather flat and suggested a modified caption, "Sri Aurobindo - the Poet". Yet, it is a fact, although highly ...
... sadhana, not for the sake of name or fame. Besides, in his letters he would occasionally make passing comments on poems and poets, both past and present. Even these casual observations are gems of literary criticism and always throw a new light on the subject. Apart from the range and variety of subjects in these letters, their language has a special quality. From the excerpts I have already given, you ...
... growth into a wider sphere. The foregoing remarks become necessary in the present unsettled state of poetical literature in which it is very difficult to find generally acceptable standards of literary criticism. For instance, here is what Ronald Nixon says about Sāvitrī: "It is an omen of the utmost significance and hope that in these years of darkness and despair such a poem as S ā vitrī should ...
... the prison-reform by going to prison! From 16 July to 27 August 1894 Sri Aurobindo contributed a series of articles to the Induprakash on Bankim Chandra Chatterji. The articles contained literary criticism and an estimate of Bankim's work. It is evident that Sri Aurobindo knew Bengali well and had familiarised himself with the works of Bankim and Madhusudan Dutt before he called Dinendra Kumar ...
... supernature, and serious narrative poetry are very little represented in the age of Pope and then only by second-rate productions. The poetry of the age is mainly didactic, i.e. its subjects are literary criticism, ethics, science or theology or humorous, i.e. consists of satire, mock epic, humorous narrative and light society verse. All these are subjects which are really outside the scope of poetry strictly ...
... chapter meant to replace the first chapter of The Future Poetry . Appendix I: New Ways in English Literature Amid the commonplace, vapid and undiscriminating stuff which mostly does duty for literary criticism in India, here is at last a work of the first order, something in which the soul can take pleasure for the beauty of its style, its perfect measure, its insight, its subtle observation and just ...
... Milton for his Latin English and inflated style and the largely uninteresting character of his two epics; the world either refuses to listen or there is a temporary effect, a brief fashion in literary criticism, but finally the world returns to its established verdict. Lesser reputations may fluctuate, but finally whatever has real value in its own kind settles itself and finds its just place in the ...
... with points the correspondents raised. As a result, the letters cannot be said to constitute a fully worked-out theory of poetics. (Such a theory is presented in Sri Aurobindo's major work of literary criticism, The Future Poetry , published as volume 26 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO. This theory is elaborated in some of the letters.) Likewise, the critical judgments Sri Aurobindo made in ...
... work: in fact, it is contrary to his mission, for then the God-realisations of other men who follow him would be superfluous and inutile so far as world-work is concerned. Even in poetry, literary criticism, philosophy, politics and social thought he does not exhaust all trends: he leaves quite an amount of individuality, originality and uniqueness to be Page 162 achieved by others ...
... particular no less than general. But before we come to it a glance may be thrown at the peculiar case of the Editor of Mother India. He was in love with poetry and deeply attached to literary criticism; he was a fast friend of philosophy and on fairly intimate terms with science; he could even have a close relationship with history; but politics was his bête noire, politics gave him ...
... sort of work, both in matter and manner, this epic is I would have respected his viewpoint even while attacking it — or perhaps I may have seen some area of agreement upon the ordinary level of literary criticism. Savitri is not a completely finished creation, it did not receive the absolute ultima lima from its author. So one may, if one wants, pick fault with a few parts of it from an overall ...
... to do with his qualities as a poet. The adventurous intellect which I could not always follow into his explorations of Jewish orEgyptian or Indian history, into theological discussion or literary criticism, I could immediately respond to in his poetry. The recently-published Collected Poems is in my eyes a towering achievement, second only to Sri Aurobindo's own poetic oeuvre... although ...
... about others. Although Amal's first love is poetry, his intellectual mind takes interest in many activities of life and thought. His letters to his friends on life, literature and yoga, his literary criticism, his political comments on the burning questions of the day as the editor of Mother India, his researches into Vedic history, Panini's age and historicity, archaeological pre- history ...
... carrying delights and splendours of the psychic-lyrical, or of the overhead. It is trans-Horatian. Indeed, to put it more explicitly, it is Aurobindonian, within and without. So too is his literary criticism. While his analyses are scientific and incisive, the insights are always soul-based. In fact it is all these that go to make his varied writings rich and rewarding. If he has carried out ...
... institutions and awoke in himself the multi-dimensional spiritual consciousness of India. He embodied a fusion of the West and the East and expressed himself and his experiences in poetry and literary criticism, philosophy and socio-political thought. Nor has he been merely a literary and spiritual figure of giant proportions. Practical politics was his daily concern for several years. He gave India's ...
... suggestive and acute, and the concluding fourteen pages which explain the workings, especially on the poetic path, of a Consciousness far beyond the mind are a piece of "metaphysical psychology" and literary criticism which is supremely inspired. It would be foolhardy for me to discuss this part in a short causerie. But I may jot down some of my own opinions as regards a few of the other matters treated here ...
... approach to the Page 212 subject of "Classical" and "Romantic" through him is most likely to yield what is new as well as true. The attentive reader of Sri Aurobindo's literary criticism will remember that he has never used the title, Classical and Romantic , for any of his essays in The Future Poetry . The words appear here and there in the book and in the letters along with ...
... of work, both in matter and manner, this epic is I would have respected his viewpoint even while attacking it - or perhaps I may have seen some area of agreement upon the ordinary level of literary criticism. Savitri is not a completely finished creation, it did not receive the absolute ultima lima from its author. So one may, if one wants, pick fault with a few parts of it from an overall ...
... gone one better by having stayed in England for some years and got engaged to an Page 72 English girl. Although I was doing sadhana and writing poetry, philosophy and literary criticism under Sri Aurobindo's inspiration, I still found the time to meet all my friends. Sometimes I used to return pretty late at night. My chum premanand and, the then librarian of the Ashram ...
... pep it up with more of the pasyanti vak of which you speak, you will have a well-knit texture of interpretation. P.S. Soon after writing this letter I fell to turning the pages of Literary Criticism in America , edited with an Introduction by Albert D. Van Nostrand. Opening in the midst of Emerson's essay on the Poet I struck on the following passage which has an interesting general relation ...
... Savitri. Indeed, a total surrender to its ambrosial spiritual symbolism is called for, and a surrender also to the Creatrix in her marvellous human incarnation. But these are beyond the purview of literary criticism. Besides, intellectual approaches cannot be wholly avoided, and they may even prove useful within limits; analysis, comparison, contrast, aetiology, 'poetolatry'—inevitably these too invade our ...
... unconventional but truly prophetic work of criticism embodying the manifesto of the new "overhead aesthesis". Sri Aurobindo was a seer rather than a coldly rationalist practitioner of literary criticism, and accordingly he doesn't laboriously or intellectually formulate a scheme for the future; he merely glimpses the very head and front, and he seems to feel the very heart-beats, of the Future ...
... Journalism embalmed years after its publication in the form of a book could be utterly unreadable. But Sri Aurobindo's contemporary political comment like 'New Lamps for Old' and first forays in literary criticism like the series of articles on Bankim still leap to life as one reads them, and both have been republished in book form. 1 Some other political writings of the last years of the Baroda period ...
... the Arya gave its readers and the world at large the very munificence of Sri Aurobindo's thought in the several realms of knowledge: philosophy, literature. Yoga, scriptural exegesis, art and literary criticism, history and sociology, national and international politics. Paul Richard's collections of extracts from the world's outstanding thinkers, grouped suggestively under various headings, must also ...
... explained in a long Introduction which he intended to write to the complete Savitri. Mostly, Savitri was meant to create in massive proportions the kind of poetry that, in his published literary criticisms, he used to designate as hailing from "Overhead" planes - the ranges of consciousness broadly envisaged by ancient Indian scriptures as lying hidden above the human and possessing an inherent... too was a life variously crowded, at the beginning with political events, afterwards with mystical realisations and inner discoveries and partly with the writing of a dozen books philosophical or literary on a large scale. But it was not merely lack of spare time or even a desire to put the maximum of available life-experience into the poem, that made it cover fifty years or so. Unlike any of the other ...
... explained in a long Introduction which he intended to write to the complete Savitri. Mostly, Savitri was meant to create in massive proportions the kind of poetry that, in his published literary criticisms, he used to designate as hailing from "Overhead" planes—the ranges of consciousness broadly envisaged by ancient Indian scriptures as lying hidden above the human and possessing an inherent light... too was a life variously crowded, at the beginning with political events, afterwards with mystical realisations and inner discoveries and partly with the writing of a dozen books philosophical or literary on a large scale. But it was not merely lack of sparetime or even a desire to put the maximum of available life-experience into the poem, that made it cover fifty years or so. Unlike any of the other ...
... explained in a long introduction which he intended to write to the complete Savitri. Mostly, Savitri was meant to create in massive proportions the kind of poetry that, in his published literary criticisms, he used to designate as hailing from "Overhead" planes — the ranges of consciousness broadly envisaged by ancient Indian scriptures as lying hidden above the human and possessing an inherent... too was a life variously crowded, at the beginning with political events, afterwards with mystical realisations and inner discoveries and partly with the writing of a dozen books philosophical or literary on a large scale. But it was not merely lack of spare time, or even a desire to put the maximum of available life-experience into the poem, that made it cover fifty years or so. Unlike any of the ...
... Aurobindo - Letters on Savitri: Editor's Note to the 1951 Edition', see p. 49.] Page 316 pour into me by intermittent inspiration. Sri Aurobindo was as expert a literary guru as a spiritual one. Judicious criticism, balanced encouragement, illuminative analysis met every effort I made towards better and better composition. On one such occasion, to illustrate some point, he sent me with... length is an indispensable condition for carrying out its purpose and everywhere there is this length, critics may say an 'unconscionable length' -1 am quoting the description of the Times Literary Supplement's criticism of The Life Divine - in every part, in every passage, in almost every canto or section of a canto. It has been planned not on the scale of Lycidas or Comus or some brief narrative... And the Unconceived lies pathless and alone. [pp. 33-34] At each step in the final version we have this kind of proliferation. Sri Aurobindo justified it in a letter to me answering some criticisms by a friend of mine who had a penchant for compositions like Milton's Lycidas or Comus and who reacted unfavourably to the gradual detailed Page 326 unfoldment of the theme ...
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