Sri Aurobindo: Way of Writing and Poem ‘To a Hero- Worshipper’
Name – Jheel Barad
Roll No.: 12
Enrollment No.: 4069206420210003
Paper no: 201
Paper code: 22406
Paper name: Indian English Literature (Pre- Independence)
Sem.: 3 (Batch 2021- 2023)
Submitted to: Smt S.B. Gardi Department of English, M.K. Bhavnagar University
E-mail- jheelbarad@gmail.com
Sri Aurobindo
Of all the Anglo- Anglican poets, Sri Aurobindo alone has the distinction of being a major poet critic- writing poetry and writing on poetry. He has a significant body of criticism on the nature of poetry which is strikingly original, profound and even provocative. The hallmarks of his poetic genius are inspiration, sublimity, mastery of both, the lyric and epic forms, profound thought, symbolism and spiritualism and commendable technical devices.
Aurobindo’s Poetic Career
Sri Aurobindo's poetic career covers a period of sixty years from 1890- 1950. His early id romantic, decadent and lyrica whereas his later poetry is imaginatively bold, mystical and original. His early poetry is represented by ‘Songs to Myrtilla’ (1859). ‘More Death’ (1895), ‘Urvaaie’ (1896), 'Love and Death’' (1921) and ‘Other Poems’ (1950) and ‘Baji Prabhon’ (1922) etc. The later poetry includes ‘Poems’ (1947), ‘Poems: Past and Present’ (1946), ‘Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol' (1950-51) and ‘Last Poems’. His Savithri represents the peak of his poetic development and achievement, and the basis of his reputation as a poet.
Sri Aurobindo About Poetry
According to Sri Aurobindo, the function of poetry is neither to teach truth, nor to pursue knowledge, but to have a life of its own to embody beauty and give delight. the future poetry, therefore, should be directed towards the forthcoming of the self of men and the large self of the universe. poetry should enable one to enjoy and realize the ‘Life divine’. He claimed that poetry is the ‘Mantra of the Real’ and considered the poem as the ‘Rose of God’.
Sri Aurobindo thinks that there is a popular misconception about the essence of poetry. Both the ordinary reader and the intellectual critic are guilty of this error. The ordinary thinks that poetry is just an aesthetic pleasure for imagination, a sort of elevated pass time. but these pleasing appeals to the imagination and the senses is only the first element. Great poetry is aesthetically satisfying, but at the same time it goes far beyond the senses, imagination and intellect. These three elements are only channels or instruments.
“The true creator and true hearer of poetry is the soul”
The intellectual pretty on the other hand takes the view that poetry is a matter of Exquisite technique technique is important and is the first step toward Perfection but there are so many other steps as well even perfect the craftsmanship does not constitute a great poetry for in the mysterious chemistry of poetry form and technique have ever indispensable and Northern determining factors in fact poetry determines its own phone is not imposed on a couple it comes spontaneously aborted inspiration takes hold of the soul and seeks its own utterance.
Great poetry, in Sri Aurobindo’s view, is vibrant, incantatory and rhythmic speech which rises from the heart of the seer when it is inspired by the Infinite. it is or should be the Mantra of the real. poetry as Mantra is possible only with three highest intensities of poetic speech meet and become indissolubly one. These three elements are:
The highest intensity of rhythmic movement.
The highest intensity of style achieved by the integration of verbal-form and thought substance.
The highest intensity of the souls vision of truth
Rhythm is of primary importance in poetic utterance, but it is not a really metrical rhythm. Meter, of course, is important to poetry both as an artistic device and as a truth of psychology. The metrical rhythm invests the poetic material with beauty. It is also an aid to memory. That was why in ancient India all kinds of knowledge were rendered in poetry. Yet, mere metrical rhythm is only a job-trot Pegasus. in great poetry, there is a deeper and more subtle music, a rhythmical soul-movement, entering the metrical form and even over flooding it.
Metrical rhythm is only the physical basis of the soul returns and it is the latter that matters. The conductor of this orchestral movement is this soul itself, coming forward to get its work done by its own higher non analytic methods. The reason is something as near to wordless music as word music can get. and at its highest, this soul rhythm is in harmony with the cosmic meters which is the vedic view sustaining the galactic movement of the universe itself.
The highest intensity of style is another Hallmark of poetry as Mantra. in this connection, Sri Aurobindo distinguishes between the aims of prose style and poetic style. prose style aims at intellectual comprehension while poetic style caters to the imaginative or spiritual comprehension. at its highest, the latter makes one see not only one see by the imagination but by the soul. This superior, higher style is achieved by tapping the soul-value of words. In poetry, words have a life of their own. They have a sound-value and a thought-value. it is the artistic and spiritual integration of these values that confers soul-value to words
The style of such poetry corresponds to its substance. between the word and vision, there are certain equations. various kinds of style- the vital, the emotional, the intellectual and the imaginative are ways of working out these equations. but none of these, Rises to the level of poetry as Mantra. Yet each of these can rise to this intensity if it can achieve the integration of the verbal form and thought substance and make us see.
Vision is the characteristic power of the poet. The ‘Kavi’ is the seer and revealer of truth. Great poets have done those who have had a powerful interpretative and intuitive vision of life and rendered that vision a revelatory utterance. but of late, thought appears to dominate our vision as we call upon the poets to offer an intellectual explanation to the enigma of modern life. but thought is no substitute for vision. In poetry as Mantra, it is vision which pours itself into thought images. The mantra is not in its substance. nor does it form poetic enunciations of philosophical truths. It is the rhythmic revelation of the souls' sight of God, nature and man.
This vision is a soul-view. It comes from the poet. He creates it out himself and not out of what he sees outwardly. The outward seeing only serves to excite the inner vision to its task. In fact any object may trigger that vision. The only thing is that the poet should be able to go beyond the object and get it to the light of that which it has the power to reveal. The object is then submerged by the light in a similar way when at the highest level the personality to the seer is lost in the eternity of the vision. The spirit alone remains.
Sri Aurobindo’s Poem
Sri Aurobindo’s poetry is not only full of grandeur but also rich in form. He did not attempt a meter that he did not make his, by a sovereign right. with a great English measure, blank verse, he is of the supreme class. He has also succeeded in adapting the epic hexameter and other classical meters and showing the possibility of a really quantitative English poetry.
To a Hero- Worshipper
Sri Aurobindo has spent his early life in England (Victorian Era) and so we find impacts of Keats in his arousing inspiration of nature and Shelley for his usage of natural objects as inspiration.
The very first stanza uses a lot of imagery in the poem. ‘Song.. Idle wind’. ‘Woven wealth of rhyme’. In the very first stanza we find a tone of sadness and we can also read it as a criticism of romanticism, 'harsh figure… harsh music’, ‘uncouth voice
Mysticism
Aurobindo is a philosopher, yogi and maharishi, mysticism plays an important role in his role and writing. Mysticism is popularly known as any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a spiritual or religious meaning, but may refer to becoming one god to the absolute. The words like ‘magical rod’, ‘Oracular’, ‘Swart’, 'Ominous star’, ‘Sinai thunder voicing God’. In the very second stanza brings in light the mysticism in the poem.
Indianness
The trend of Indian romanticism ushered in by three great forces, influenced the destiny of modern Indian Literature.
Sri Aurobindo: search for the Divine man
R. tagore: beauty in nature and man
M.K, Gandhi: Experiments of truth and non violence.
In the very next stanza use of ‘Oaten Pipe’. And Byron is used to symbolize satire; Wordsworth for Nature and man and Shelley for atheism, nature and sorrow.
Spirituality
In the second part of the poem, poets claim to have studied nature where humans crave for meaning but he couldn't find meaning in nature. ‘Moral… murmuring wind’, ‘message… snows’.
Nature
There are various references to Nature, flowers like Daisy, Crocus, Narcissus, cowslips, Lilies; Sun, moonlight vale and a russet nightingale which shows Aurobindo love for nature.
Conclusion:
Through the example of this poem we do see Sri Aurobindo’s poetic genius are inspiration, sublimity, mastery of both, the lyric and epic forms, profound thought, symbolism and spiritualism and commendable technical devices. And we find a significant body of criticism on the nature of poetry which is strikingly original, profound and even provocative. And a rhythmic revelation of the souls' sight of God, nature and man.
Works Cited
Aurobindo, Sri. “Sri Aurobindo. To a Hero-Worshipper.” AuroMaa, https://auromaa.org/sri-aurobindo-ru/workings/sa/37_02/0024_e.htm. Accessed 5 November 2022.
Chaama, Sridhar. “Remembering a guru.” The Hindu, 16 August 2012, https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/remembering-a-guru/article3779469.ece. Accessed 5 November 2022.
Srinivasa Iyengar, K. R. Indian Writing in English. Sterling Publishers, 1987. Accessed 5 November 2022.
Vallath, Kalyani, editor. Indian Writing in English. Bodhi Tree Books, 2015.
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