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Letters on Poetry and Art

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Item Code: NAH915
Author: Sri Aurobindo
Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry
Language: English
Edition: 2016
ISBN: 9789352100989
Pages: 777
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch X 5.5 inch
Weight 1 kg
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Shipped to 153 countries
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Book Description

About The Book

This volume comprises letters written by Sri Aurobindo on poetry, literature, art and aesthetics, and their relation to the practice of Yoga. He wrote most of the letters to members of his Ashram during the 1930s and 1940s, primarily between 1931 and 1937.

Before the present volume, collections 01 Sri Aurobindo's letters on poetry and art had been published in three different books. In this volume they are appearing together for the first time. Moreover, the volume contains about 500 letters that did not appear in any of the previous collections.

In these letters Sri Aurobindo speaks about his own poetry, the poetry of his disciples, and the works of the world's great poets. He speaks also about the various levels of poetic inspiration and the process of poetic creation. To aspiring writers he offers practical guidance. To spiritual seekers he explains the value of literary, artistic and musical activities in the practice of Yoga. Within the intimacy of private correspondence, these letters reveal Sri Aurobindo's vision of the role of poetry and the arts in human development.

About the Author

Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven he was taken to England for his education. He studied at St. Paul's School, London, and at King's College, Cambridge. Returning to India in 1893, he worked for the next thirteen years in the Princely State of Baroda in the service of the Maharaja and as a professor in the state's college.

In 1906 Sri Aurobindo quit his post in Baroda and went to Calcutta, where he became one of the leaders of the Indian nationalist movement. As editor of the newspaper Bande Mataram, he put forward the idea of complete independence from Britain. Arrested three times for sedition or treason, he was released each time for lack of evidence.

Sri Aurobindo began the practice of Yoga in 1905. Within a few years he achieved several fundamental spiritual realisations. In 1910 he withdrew from politics and went to Pondicherry in French India in order to concentrate on his inner life and work. Over the next forty years, he developed a new spiritual path, the Integral Yoga, whose ultimate aim is the transformation of life by the power of a supramental consciousness. In 1926, with the help of his spiritual collaborator the Mother, he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. His vision of life is presented in numerous works of prose and poetry, among the best known of which are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita and Savitri. Sri Aurobindo passed away on 5 December 1950.

Contents

Part One Poetry and Its Creation  
Section One The Sources of Poetry  
  Poetic Creation 5
  Sources of Inspiration 14
  Overhead Poetry 20
  Examples of Overhead Poetry 50
Section Two The Poetry of the Spirit  
  Psychic, Mystic and Spiritual Poetry 83
  Poet, Yogi, Rishi, Prophet, Genius 102
  The Poet and the Poem 106
Section Three Poetic Technique  
  Technique, Inspiration, Artistry 117
  Rhythm 124
  English Metres 128
  Greek and Latin Classical Metres 137
  Quantitative Metre in English and Bengali 141
  Metrical Experiments in Bengali 145
  Rhyme 155
  English Poetic Forms 157
  Substance, Style, Diction 164
  Grades of Perfection in Poetic Style 185
  Examples of Grades of Perfection in Poetic Style 188
Section Four Translation  
  Translation: Theory 199
  Translation: Practice 201
Part Two On His Own And Others' Poetry  
Section One On His Poetry and Poetic Method  
  Inspiration, Effort, Development 211
  Early Poetic Influences 219
  On Early Translations and Poems 223
  On Poems Published in Ahana and Other Poems 227
  Metrical Experiments 231
  On Some Poems Written during the 1930s 239
  On Savitri 261
  Comments on Some Remarks by a Critic 332
  On the Publication of His Poetry 359
Section Two On Poets and Poetry  
  Great Poets of the World 367
  Remarks on Individual Poets 372
  Comments on Some Examples of Western Poetry (up to 1900) 387
  Twentieth-Century Poetry 412
  Comments on Examples of Twentieth-Century Poetry 430
  Indian Poetry in English 442
  Poets of the Ashram 453
  Comments on the Work of Poets of the Ashram 467
  Philosophers, Intellectuals, Novelists and Musicians 519
  Comments on Some Passages of Prose 554
Section Three Practical Guidance for Aspiring Writers  
  Guidance in Writing Poetry 567
  Guidance in Writing Prose 627
  Remarks on English Pronunciation 629
  Remarks on English Usage 640
  Remarks on Bengali Usage 656
Part Three Literature, Art, Beauty and Yoga  
Section One Appreciation of Poetry and the Arts  
  Appreciation of Poetry 663
  Appreciation of the Arts in General 675
  Comparison of the Arts 678
  Appreciation of Music 682
Section Two On the Visual Arts  
  General Remarks on the Visual Arts 685
  Problems of the Painter 687
  Painting in the Ashram 692
Section Three Beauty and Its Appreciation  
  General Remarks on Beauty 699
  Appreciation of Beauty 705
Section Four Literature, Art, Music and the Practice of Yoga  
  Literature and Yoga 711
  Painting, Music, Dance and Yoga 733
  Appendixes  
Appendix 1 The Problem of the Hexameter 743
Appendix II An Answer to a Criticism 745
Appendix III Remarks on a Review 749
  Note On The Texts 759

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