Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 2. On Poets and Poetry
Remarks on Individual Poets

Tennyson and Wilde

I could never swallow In Memoriam even in the days when I admired him — very early days! It has been well described as “sorrow in kid gloves”. I suppose he was sincere, but he failed to make his expression sincere. The thought is perfectly shallow and conventional for the most part and there is no depth or strength of feeling. As for Wilde, there was always a strain of insincerity somewhere, he posed even over his sufferings — but he was a marvellous artist of speech and his imagination and his colouring are superb. In spite of the touch of insincerity, of overstress, [De Profundis] remains one of the greatest things [written in] English {{0}}prose.[[One corner of the manuscript of this letter has been lost. The words printed within square brackets are conjectural reconstructions. — Ed.]]