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 Savitri

On the Composition of the Poem. Letters of 1931 – 1936 [6]

If the first hundred lines or so of Savitri have attained their final form, it is indeed an occasion for great rejoicing — even for me, as you won’t now be averse to quoting from it. If you like, I shall very carefully type out for you whatever you think does not need further improvement. In any case, please do send me the toes of the Hercules if not his whole foot.

The difficulty is that I had always an instinctive shrinking from amputation or any other surgical operation of the kind in matters of art as well as the body.

2 August 1933