Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 2. On Poets and Poetry
Twentieth-Century Poetry

Chesterton [1]

I have not read Chesterton’s poetry as a whole, but what I have seen of it does not attract me. Scott no longer ranks as a poet; Chesterton’s verse struck me as a modernisation of Scott. I have told you I do not share contemporary enthusiasms. As for the “best war-scenes since Homer”, that is exactly the phrase that was used for a long time about Scott.

1932