Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Poetry and Art

SABCL - Volume 27

Part 2. On His Own and Others’ Poetry
Section 3. Practical Guidance for Aspiring Writers
Guidance in Writing Poetry

Inspiration and Understanding [2]

The poet herself says that, as far as she can tell, the sestet has no relationship to the previous lines.

What does that matter? Is she the intellectual creator of these poems or is she the medium of their transmission? If the latter it does not matter a penny damn that she does not intellectually understand her poem — provided she transmits it correctly.

7 December 1936