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

Some Questions of Word-Use [5]

Your remark about my fifth line [“And if great music ... ”] is liable to seem hypercritical but really there is a subtle truth in it. However, it is not possible to begin the line with an “A” — for then the connection with the rest of the stanza is not so direct nor will the balance between the two quatrains be very clear.

I do not agree about the hypercriticism — the reason I gave is of course a mental account, but the main test is the fall and feel of the words either on the “solar plexus” or on the receptive intuition and here a slight alteration makes all the difference. “a great music rolled” is obviously unconvincing whether as expression or rhythm. I had thought of “when” in view of the intellectual construction of the lines, but dropped it because it lowered the rhythm and impressiveness of the line. If “when” however is to be there, I don’t know whether “mighty” is any longer the right word though better than “great”. For inevitability (of whatever height) everything depends on the combination of words and the suggestive sound rhythm.

17 April 1937