Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

SABCL 26

Fragment ID: 7539

Like Macaulay’s “A Jacobite’s Epitaph”, Aurobindo’s “Hic Jacet” also achieves its severe beauty through sheer economy of words; the theme, the very rhythm and language of the poem, all hark back to Macaulay.

If so, it must have been an unconscious influence; for after early childhood Macaulay’s verse (The Lays) ceased to appeal. The Jacobite’s Epitaph was perhaps not even read twice; it made no impression.