Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
CWSA 27
Fragment ID: 7309
Some Questions of Word-Use [1]
Is there any advantage in changing the phrase –
as though a press
Of benediction lay on me unseen –
to
as though the press
Of a benediction lay on me unseen?
No, no. The first was immeasurably better. “A press of benediction” is striking and effective; “the press of a benediction” is flat and means nothing. Besides it is not good English. You can say “a press of affairs”, “a press of matter”; you can say “the pressure of this affair”, but you cannot say “the press of an affair”.
1931