ascent and struggle, but
these few alterations do not make any real difference to the spirit. There is a
quite sufficient nobility and power in your translation. With that, it seems to
me as literal as it can be.Sri Aurobindo
Letters on Poetry and Art
SABCL - Volume 27
Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 1. On His Poetry and Poetic Method
On Poems Published in Ahana and Other Poems
On Two Translations of The Vedantin’s Prayer [1]
You have made a very fine and true rendering of the
Vedantin’s Prayer. Perhaps so hard and rocky a person as the Vedantin, who
is very much of a converted Titan, would not have thought of such a sweet and
luxurious word as কুসুমি [kusumi]
in the midst of his ascent and struggle, but
these few alterations do not make any real difference to the spirit. There is a
quite sufficient nobility and power in your translation. With that, it seems to
me as literal as it can be.
6 May 1932