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 the Publication of His Poetry

On Two Proposals to Publish Love and Death in England [1]

By the way, the copy of your Love and Death is ready to go to England. I wonder how the critics will receive the poem.

You expect ... Love and Death to make a sensation in England — I don’t expect it in the least: I shall be agreeably surprised if it gets more than some qualified praise, and if it does not get even that, I shall be neither astonished nor discomfited. I know the limitations of the poem and its qualities and I know that the part about the descent into Hell can stand comparison with some of the best English poetry; but I don’t expect my contemporaries to see it. If they do, it will be good luck or divine grace, that is all.

2 February 1932