Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 2. On Poets and Poetry
Comments on the Work of Poets of the Ashram

A. E. on Amal Kiran — Sri Aurobindo on A. E. [3]

I don’t think I can consent to sending the letter [of 5 February 1932] to A. E. — unasked-for criticism is the last thing I would dream of sending to someone personally unknown to me — especially to a man of A. E.’s standing and value. Besides, I can express casual dicta of that kind to you or Dilip or Arjava, because our minds are in sufficiently close communication to throw out an isolated point without balancing it by the other things that would have to be said if I were writing for a distant mind or for the public. My remarks, even about his rhythm, are quite incomplete and based on an uncertain remembrance — I read his poems hastily in a volume brought from a library and kept only for a short time — and it was at least seven or eight years ago — more, for I must have been writing The Future Poetry at the time. For that reason, too, I would rather like to have a more leisurely glance at your selections [from A. E.’s poetry], if you can spare them for some time.

6 February 1932