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<title>Rhythm in Poetry</title>

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<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><b
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><font size="4">Rhythm in Poetry</font></b></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>TODAY I wish to speak to
you a few words about rhythm in poetry, or rather demonstrate to you what <span
class=GramE>is this thing</span> called the &quot;swing&quot; or movement of
rhythmic utterance. Rhythm, in its essence, is the harmony or melody underlying
poetic speech. All I shall do will be to quote you instances, to show in what
different ways this music of the spoken word finds expression in poetic speech.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>At
the very outset I shall speak of Sanskrit, the mother of languages which first
gave voice to the Word, and here I shall take as its representative the great
poet Kalidasa. You have no doubt heard about his <i>Meghaduta. </i>The whole of
this <i>Meghaduta </i>is composed in a wonderful metrical form, and how sweet
is the very name given to this metre, <i>mandakranta; </i>the
name itself carries in its sound and movement the suggestion of its rhythm. M<i>andakranta
</i>literally means, &quot;<span class=GramE>one</span> that moves with slow
deliberate steps.&quot; But this does not imply a simple rolling motion. The
steps move with a faster beat at appropriate intervals, purposely in order to
accentuate the general slowness. The results have been astonishing. Slow
motion in verse implies the use of long vowels or double measures. Now listen
to this movement in <i>mandakranta:<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>kascit</i></span><i> kanta / -viraha-guruna /
svadhikara-pramatta...<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
this metre, the arrangement is like this: In each line there are 17 syllables,
divided into groups of four, six and seven syllables each. There is a pause or
caesura at the end<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-indent:11.25pt;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;
mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 80</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>of</span>
the first four, then after the next six, and finally at the end of the line.
This may be described as the pattern of its beat, but there is also to consider
the sequence of long and short vowels. The first four syllables are long,
followed by the rapid movement of five short syllables. A pause comes with the
long movement of the sixth. In the last foot of seven syllables, there is a
variation permitted in the arrangement of the long and short vowels so as to avoid
a monotonous pattern in every line, as in the <i>ghazal </i>of Urdu or Persian
or the <st1:City><st1:place><span class=GramE><i>doha</i></span></st1:place></st1:City><i>
</i>in Hindi. These seven syllables are accordingly arranged in a varying
combination of the short and long vowels, such as four-three, five-two,
three-four, two-five, the last two vowels being invariably taken as long
whatever their actual measure. Another striking feature of this metre is that
the very name <i>mandakranta </i>illustrates the arrangement of
its first foot. Now listen:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>kascit</i></span><i> kanta /-viraha-guruna /
svadhikara-pramattah<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>sapenastam</i></span><i> </i>/ - <i>gamita-mahima
</i>/ <i>varsabhogyena bhartuh<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>yaksas</i></span><i> -cakre </i>/ <i>Janaka-tanaya </i>/ <i>-snana-punyodakesu<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>snigdha-cchaya</i></span><i>/ tarusu vasatim </i>/ <i>rama-giryasramesu<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Like this it goes on,
honey-sweet to the ear:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>tasminn-adrau</i></span><i> katicid-abala-viprayukta sa kami<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>nitva</i></span><i> </i><st1:City><st1:place><i>masan</i></st1:place></st1:City><i>
kanaka-valaya-bhramsa-rikta-prakosthah<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>asadhasya</i></span><i> prathama-divase megham-aslista-sanum<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>vapra-</i></span><i> krida-parinata-gaja -preksaniyam-dadarsa<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Here is an English
rendering in prose:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&quot;A
demi-god found negligent in his work and cursed by his master to a doleful year
of separation from his beloved, shorn of all power, took up abode in the cool
shades of trees at the Ashrama on Rama's hill whose waters had been made sacred
by the touch of Janaka's daughter while bathing there.</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 82 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&quot;After
a few months spent thus on that hill, his wrists now bare of the golden bands
for lack of the supporting flesh, that lover now no more in the company of his
beloved happened to cast his eyes on the first clouds of the season as they
clung to the hilltop as nice to see as a full-grown elephant sporting with
mud.&quot;¹<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
is another metrical form, the s<i>loka, </i>which is very familiar to
Sanskrit. We may call it the basic form of Sanskrit verse and its backbone as
it were. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are composed for the most part in
this metre; the Gita (which forms part of the Mahabharata) is almost wholly in
this metre, as in the opening lines,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.8pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>dharma-ksetre</i></span><i> kuruksetre samaveta <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>yuyutsavah<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>mamaka</i></span><i> pandavas-caiva
kim-akurvata sañjaya.<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Its construction is: four
feet making a double line, each line containing a pair of feet of eight
syllables each. Thus,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>dharma-ksetre</i></span><i> kuruksetre<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></i><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>first foot;<i><o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>samaveta</i></span><i> yuyutsavah</i> <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>second foot.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The eight syllables in
each foot can be arranged in different ways, like, four <i>plus </i>four: <i>dharma-ksetre
kuruksetre samaveta<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:
8.15pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>¹ <span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Another version in verse:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
8.15pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>On Rama's shady peak where
hermits roam,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Mid streams by Sita's
bathing sanctified,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>An erring Yaksha made his hapless
home,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Doomed by his master humbly
to abide,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Arid spend a long-long year
of absence from his bride.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Some months were gone; the
lonely lover's pain<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Had loosed his golden
bracelet day by day <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Ere he beheld the harbinger
of rain<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>A cloud that charged the
peak in mimic fray,<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;mso-line-height-alt:
9.8pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>As an
elephant attacks a bank of earth in play.</span></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 83 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE><i>yuyutsavah</i></span><i>
</i>followed by three <i>plus </i>five: <i>mamakah pandavas <span class=SpellE>caiva</span>, </i>or five <i>plus </i>three: <i>kim-akurvata
sañjaya.<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There
is not much rigidity here about the distribution of long and short vowels. All
that is required is that the fifth syllable of the foot must be short and the
sixth long; this is enough. This metre is called <i>anustubh </i>by the
Sanskrit prosodists.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:9.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
really belongs to the category of the <i>payar </i>metre of our Bengali. <i>Payar
</i>is the basic foundation or backbone of the metrical structure in Bengali.
You know its form: it is a couplet (like the Hindi <i>doha)<span
style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'>, </span></i>each
line counting fourteen letters, simple or conjunct, the letters being normally
arranged in groups of eight and six. Bengali prosody does not recognise long or
short syllables; this is made good by the rhymes at the end. To take an
example:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>mahabharater</i></span><i> katha amrta-saman<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>kasiramdas</i></span><i> kahe sune punyaban<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The first line has:<i> mahabharater
katha –</i> eight syllables, and <i>amrta-saman </i>– six syllables.
Similarly, in the second line, we have:<i> kasiramdas kahe
–</i> eight syllables, and <i>sune punyaban</i> –six. The rhyming is
done by <i>man </i>in <i>saman </i>and <i>ban </i>in<i> punyaban.
</i><span class=GramE>However, more of this a little later.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Somewhat
similar to Bengali is the basic structure of the French metrical scheme, for
French too makes no distinction of long and short vowels. In French as in
Bengali the foot is based on a syllable-count, the caesura likewise follows the
Bengali pattern. The <i>payar </i>in Bengali has an eight-six <span
class=GramE>break,</span> the basic division in French is six-six, making a
total of twelve syllables in the line. This is the Alexandrine, corresponding
in structure to the Heroic Couplet in English, as in the famous lines of Pope:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.2pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>We call our fathers fools so wise we grow, <o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span>Our wiser sons no doubt will call us so.</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 84
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In French, we may take as
specimens, in the pathetic voice of the great <st1:City><st1:place>Racine</st1:place></st1:City>:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Ariane,
ma soeur, de quel amour blessée<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE><i>Vous mourûtes au bord où vous fûtes laissée?</i></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(Ariane,
my sister, what love it was that struck you and left you dying on the shores of
the sea?)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, listen to the majestic
tones of a poet of equal power, Corneille:</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Je
<span class=GramE>suis</span> jeune, il est vrai</i>; <i>aux </i><st1:City><st1:place><i>ames</i></st1:place></st1:City><i>
bien-neés<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>La
valeur n'attend point le nombre des années.<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(I
am young; it is true; but the valour of hero-souls counts little the number of
years they have lived.)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.3pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
there is one thing I should add here. The counting of the syllables nowhere
makes poetry. It is the suggestive vibrations of sound produced by the sequence
of letters that give us the poetic rhythm. Quite apart from the variations of
metrical length or quantity, each letter and every word used in poetry has a
peculiar vibration of its own. The poet in his inner hearing depends on that
for his word-music. The counting of the syllables may perhaps help in
measuring the beat.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Like
the <i>payar </i>in Bengali and the <i>anustubh </i>of Sanskrit, English
has its iambic pentameter. This term implies that each line should consist of
five feet. In place of the variations of length in the vowel sounds as in
Sanskrit, it has its own characteristic variation of accent and stress. The
iambic has a foot of two syllables each; the first has a light stress being
unaccented, the second bears the accent. Take for example, the line:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.15in;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
The cur/few tolls/the knell/of part<span class=SpellE>/ing</span> day,<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 85 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>or</span>
the lines from Pope which I have already cited,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:31.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>We
call/our <span class=SpellE>fath/ers</span> fools/so wise/we grow,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:31.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Our <span
  class=SpellE> <st1:State><st1:place><span class=GramE>wis</span></st1:place></st1:State><span class=GramE>/</span>er sons/no doubt/will call/us so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>There is also the deep
serious Miltonic voice:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>To
reign/is worth/<span class=SpellE>ambi/tion</span> though/in hell,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>or</span>
the supreme tragic note as in Shakespeare's<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is/the cause<span class=GramE>,/</span>it is/the cause,/my soul.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Sri Aurobindo makes use of
this limpid metrical form in the opening lines of his <i>Savitri:<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
was the hour before the gods awake.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.25pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Since
I have spoken a little about some of the metres in Sanskrit, I should now say
something about Greek and Latin. Just as in Sanskrit the syllables are measured
according to their quantity, on which the metres are based and their rhythm,
so does Greek or Latin verse depend on the variations of vowel length. But
there is a difference. The metrical foot in Greek or Latin prosody is a fixed
unit, as in English, and it consists of three syllables long or short in
varying combinations. In Sanskrit, as we have seen, <i>mandakranta
</i>has feet of varying lengths, of four, six and seven syllables each; the <i>anustubh
</i>has <span class=GramE>four-syllables</span> feet, but various other
combinations are possible; for in Sanskrit it is the syllable that forms the
basic unit.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
best-known measure in Latin or Greek is the hexameter. In this metre the foot
consists of three syllables, one of which is long and the other two are short,
though their positions may vary. The characteristic movement of the hexameter
depends especially on a particular type of foot,</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 87 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>the</span>
dactyl, with its long-short-short arrangement. That is to say, this foot of
three syllables has a long first syllable followed by two short ones, exactly
as in the English words, &quot;wonderful&quot; or &quot;beautiful&quot;
(pronounced won'-<span class=SpellE>der-ful</span>, beau'-<span class=SpellE>ti-ful</span>).
There is used in this hexameter another type of foot, the spondee, where the
two short syllables of the dactyl are replaced by a long one. The last foot of
this metre may end with a short or long syllable for the sake of the word-music
or just to provide a variation. Now listen to this hexameter movement:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Tytire/
tu patu/laes <span class=SpellE>recu</span>/ bans sub/ tegmine/ <span
class=SpellE>fagi</span>...<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(You
<span class=GramE>Tytirus,</span> lie under your spreading beech's cover)...<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is in this hexameter that Homer has composed his wonderful epics with their
sublime poetry. I do not wish to plague you with too many quotations from the
original Greek, but let me recite the opening line of Homer's <i>Iliad:<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Mênin
a/<span class=SpellE>iede</span>, the/a, <span class=SpellE>Pê/lê/iadêo</span> <span
class=SpellE>Achi/lêos</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Many of you are no doubt
acquainted with its rendering in English:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Sing
heavenly Muse, the wrath of Achilles, <span class=SpellE>Peleus</span>' son.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Perhaps
in this connection I may briefly allude to the difference between the rhythmic
movements of Greek and Latin verse. The Latin construction is firm, packed and
solid; energy is its strong point. The Greek movement on the other hand is an
undulating flow characterised by grace. Now here is the Latin –<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Tytire
tu <span class=SpellE>patuloes</span> <span class=SpellE>recubans</span> sub
tegmine <span class=SpellE>fagi</span>.<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 87 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>This gives an impression
of hammer blows carving a statue in <span class=GramE>stone,</span> the beauty
of solid powerful form takes shape out of skilled consonantal assonances. But
when we listen to the Greek– </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i>Mênin
aeide, thea, Pêlêiadeô Achilêos<o:p></o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><i><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></i></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>the</span>
rush of vowels suggests the dance of ripples, a sweep of the painter's brush or
the flourish of the bow on violin strings. Latin has no doubt the strength of
its consonants, but it has none of their harshness; there is here no immoderate
use of the hard aspirates as we find in German. Sri Aurobindo used to say that
the main feature of Latin was in its strength, of Greek its beauty, whereas
Sanskrit could combine both beauty and strength.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
hexameter moves on its six winged feet, but the music it makes is more heavenly
than any murmuring of the bees. Critics in all climes have been charmed and
taken captive by its rhythm and surge, its sweetness and opulence. Many
attempts have been made in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to shape it in the mould of English verse. For quantity or measure in English
prosody is of a very different type from what it is in Greek, Latin or
Sanskrit. In these classical tongues, the vowels could be lengthened to a
degree without deviating from the norm, whereas in English the long vowels are
not so common and accent determines their quantity in large measure. The rhythm
or music of English verse follows the pattern of stress. Sri Aurobindo wanted
to refashion the hexameter in the style of English prosody, and whatever
success has been achieved in this field is Sri Aurobindo's gift. For instance,
his poem, <i>Ahana, </i>is written entirely in this metre:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:1.65pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:
-1.65pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:9.1pt;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Vision de/<span
class=SpellE>lightful</span> a/lone on the/hills whom the/ </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:207.0pt;text-indent:9.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:
9.1pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Silences/cover,</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;mso-line-height-alt:
8.85pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:-58.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Closer yet/lean to <span class=SpellE>mor/tality</span>; /human<span
class=GramE>,/</span>stoop to thy/<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span
class=GramE>Lover.</span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:150%;
mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;
mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 88</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The whole of his epic, <st1:place><i>Ilion</i></st1:place><i>,
</i>again is in this metre. It<b> </b>is in <st1:place><i>Ilion</i></st1:place><i>
</i>that the hexameter form has been closely followed; for in <i>Ahana, </i>as
in our <i>payar </i>or the heroic couplet, in English, there is throughout
rhyming at the end. This is how <st1:place><i>Ilion</i></st1:place><i> </i>begins:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Dawn
in her/journey e/<span class=SpellE>ternal</span> com/<span class=SpellE>pelling</span>
the/labour<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span><span class=GramE>of/</span>mortals,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Dawn
the be/ginner of/things with the/night for their/<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 4.0in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>rest</span> or their/ending.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>I
have been speaking of the rhythm and surge, the word music of poetry. From this
point of view there is another poem of Sri Aurobindo where the sound and movement
claim our particular attention. <i>The Mother of Dreams </i>is no doubt
familiar to all of you and some may even know it by heart. The arrangement of
pauses in every line, the internal rhymes, the swift flowing <span class=GramE>movement
are</span> all superbly done:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.05pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Goddess
supreme<span class=GramE>,/</span>Mother of Dream,/by thy ivory doors<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>when</span> thou <span class=SpellE>standest</span>,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Who
are they then/that come down unto men/in thy<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>visions</span> that
troop,/group upon group,/down the path<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>of</span> the shadows slanting? /<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Dream
after dream<span class=GramE>,/</span>they flash and they gleam/with the<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>flame</span> of the stars still around them;/<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Shadows
at thy side/in a darkness ride/where the wild<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>fires</span>
dance,/stars glow and glance/and the random<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>meteor</span> glistens...<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 258.2pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>What we get in this
musical verse is a sweet felicity naturally pleasing to the ear; there is here
a sense of wideness as in a far-flung movement of modulated grace; and the
whole is surcharged with a rich opulence. These very qualities bring to mind
another poem of his; <i>The Bird of Fire </i>—<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-top:0;text-align:center;
line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-bottom:0'>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt;'>Page – 89<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-top:6.95pt;text-align:center;
line-height:12.95pt;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none'>

<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:
27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-bottom:0'>Gold-white wings a-throb in the
vastness, the bird of<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>flame</span> went
glimmering over a <span class=SpellE>sunfire</span> curve to<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span class=GramE>the</span> haze of the west,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Skimming,
a messenger sail, the sapphire-summer waste<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span
class=GramE>of</span> a soundless wayless burning sea...<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 258.7pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Here, more explicit; is
still another quality, the quality of strength or energy. In<b> </b>this
connection, one is reminded of a similar piece, <i>Rose of God, </i>a very
embodiment of the Word with its power of calm clear vision:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 257.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Rose of God, vermilion stain on the sapphires of heaven, <o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:right 4.25in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Rose of Bliss, fire-sweet, seven-tinged with the ecstasies
seven!<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Leap
up in our heart of humanhood, O miracle, O flame,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Passion-flower
of the Nameless, bud of the mystical Name.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:right 257.5pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.75pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>On
the whole, therefore, it may be said in a general way that what gives its
characteristic quality to a metre and its rhythm depends on one of two things,
namely, the length of vowels or quantity, or else the stress or accent; these
determine whether the movement would be staccato or slow.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
metres in languages where the basic unit is the syllable (mainly ending in
vowels but secondarily or partially with consonant-endings as well) have a slow
flowing movement; ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit follow this line. French
has continued in the main this tradition in modern <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>.
On our part, in <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
Bengali a language formed out of broken <span class=GramE>Sanskrit,</span> has
for the most part adopted this line. The staccato rhythm with its stress on
accent has been accepted in <st1:place>Europe</st1:place>, on one hand in the
German language, and on the other by its kindred, English (because of its Anglo
Saxon structure). Thus, the celebrated German poet says in<o:p> </o:p>
<span class=GramE>his</span> well-known line,&nbsp;</p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:2.4pt;text-align:center;
text-indent:-2.4pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:226.3pt;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 90 <o:p></o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=SpellE>Warum</span>
<span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>sind</span> denn
die Rosen so blass<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>(Why are then the roses so
<span class=GramE>pale,</span>)<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>and</span>
we hear as if an echo in English:<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The red rose was beaten,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:.45in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp; </span><span
style='mso-tab-count:2'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The white rose had won;<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The Queen was in hiding<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:16.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class=GramE>With Edward her
son.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;tab-stops:16.3pt;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It is precisely because of
this stress on accent that the scansion of English verse is not based rigidly
on the number of syllables. Thus there can be a varying number of syllables to
a foot provided their &quot;quantity&quot; or &quot;measure&quot; as judged by
the distribution of accent remains the same. This imparts a characteristic
quality to English metres known as the sprung-rhythm. This feature has been
particularly brought out by the poet Hopkins, as in<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The
heart rears wings bold and bolder.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Here, a single strongly
accented word, &quot;rears&quot; or &quot;wings&quot;, does duty for a whole
foot. Or, as in the line,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Glory
be to God for dappled things,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>a</span>
long accented vowel combines with three short unstressed ones to form a single
foot.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:10.55pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But
the English metrical scheme has been influenced a great deal by the French
language with its Latin tradition. Indeed, the Norman-French influence has been
powerfully dominating the English language for several centuries. This has
considerably helped English prosody gain in variety and richness, for here
there is room for both the main lines of rhythmic expression.<span
style='mso-tab-count:1'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Metrical
forms where the element of stress is predominant<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 91 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>and</span>
the movement follows the staccato pattern have found their richest scope more
in the languages of southern <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> than in the north.
Both in Spanish and Italian, the long flowing movement of the original Latin
has been broken into staccato. These languages formed out of vulgar Latin have
in, their turn been modified by their contact with German speaking peoples
(like the Visigoths in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and the Lombards in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>).
Whereas French has been able to preserve much of the fixed tradition of its
parent Latin, in the Italian language, stress or accent determines almost
entirely the movement of its rhythm. I will illustrate by and by.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:11.5pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Bengali
verse too has a considerable element of stress which has brought out a peculiar
beauty of its own. This has its origin and main support in the folk-songs, the
popular epigrammatic verse and in folk-literature generally. Here I am
referring to metrical forms where the consonants predominate. We are all
familiar with<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>or</span>,
Satyen Dutt's<o:p></o:p></p>

</div>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><img src="_Gif%20Image/92.gif" width="353" height="145" border="0"></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>But whether it <span
class=GramE>be</span> in Bengali or any other Indian tongue, as in Hindi for
example, wherever this element of stress has been introduced, it has left a
peculiar mark of its own. It is this that all the sounds are pronounced
distinctly no matter where the stress falls. On the other hand, in the staccato
rhythms of the European languages, an exclusive prominence is given to the
stressed <span class=GramE>sounds,</span> the others remain partially or almost
wholly unpronounced. In Italian or Spanish; for example, it is only the
high-pitched accents that are, wherever possible, given all the prominence;
the rest are pushed to the</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 92 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=GramE>background</span>.
Thus,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=SpellE>Nel</span>
mezzo <st1:State><st1:place><span class=GramE>del</span></st1:place></st1:State>
<span class=SpellE>commin</span> <span class=SpellE>di</span> nostra vita<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Mi <span class=SpellE>vitrovai</span>
par <span class=SpellE>una</span> <span class=SpellE>selva</span> <span
class=SpellE>oscura</span>,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span class=SpellE><span
class=GramE>Cke la diritta via era smarrita.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Per me <span
class=SpellE>si</span> <span class=GramE>va</span> <span class=SpellE>nella</span>
<span class=SpellE>citta</span> dolente,<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Per me <span
class=SpellE>si</span> <span class=GramE>va</span> <span class=SpellE>nell</span>'
<span class=SpellE>eterna</span> <span class=SpellE>dolore</span><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Per me <span
class=SpellE>si</span> <span class=GramE>va</span> <span class=SpellE>tra</span>
la <span class=SpellE>perduta</span> gente.<span style='mso-bidi-font-style:
italic'>¹<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-family:"Arial Narrow";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial Narrow"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Word-music
in Bengali poetry means Rabindranath. To adapt a well-known English phrase, one
may say that Rabindranath is poetry and poetry Rabindranath; there is no need
to bring in any other artist. We get this in Rabindranath's early work:<o:p></o:p></p>

</div>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify; text-indent:8.85pt; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify; text-indent:8.85pt; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0"><img src="_Gif%20Image/93.gif" width="360" height="180" border="0"></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:8.85pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>The measures flow in a
firmer, more close-knit order in<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;mso-line-height-alt:
10.05pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
class=GramE>¹ <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>In</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'> the midway of this our mortal life,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>I found me in a gloomy wood,
astray <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Gone from the path direct:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:6.7pt;text-align:justify;text-indent:
-6.7pt;mso-line-height-alt:10.05pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:
none;text-autospace:none; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Through me you pass into the city of woe: <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Through me you pass into eternal pain:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:27.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>Through me among the people lost for aye.</span><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 93 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

  <p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><o:p><img src="_Gif%20Image/94.gif" width="350" height="341" border="0">&nbsp;</o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:150%;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>&nbsp;</p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.45pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>In
sheer charm of style Rabindranath stands without a peer. Not mere grace or
charm but the sweetness, the honeyed essence that he has lavished in unstinted
measure has no parallel in literature.<o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:13.9pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>It
is this quality of sweetness that has made the fame of Bengali language and
literature, from Vidyapati and Chandidas right down to Rabindranath. But the
possibilities of this language and literature, not only for sweetness or grace but
also for strength and nobility have been brought out by Madhusudan. He has not
the power and depth of thought, but there is in his style and manner something
reminiscent of that &quot;stepping of the goddess&quot; in Virgil. One hears as
if the rumbling of the clouds in the opening lines of Meghnadbadh:</p>
<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 94 </span>
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>

</div>

  <p class=MsoNormal style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><img src="_Gif%20Image/95.gif" width="280" height="93" border="0"></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:3.1pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp;</span></p>

</div>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify; text-indent:3.1pt; line-height:150%;margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0">We have of course moved a long way off from <span
class=GramE>Madhusudan,</span> and from Rabindranath as well. Bengali verse
has enlarged its scope to a surprising degree; in variety as in scope it has
grown almost immeasurably. But that is another story.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;text-indent:12.0pt;line-height:
150%;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Ezra
Pound has made an astonishing remark on this question of poetic rhythm. He
says that the rhythm or music of poetry is beyond the realm of words and their
meaning; it has an existence quite apart and almost independent of them. Poetry
in a foreign language, a language that we do not understand by the intellect,
has simply to be heard: When we do not grasp the meaning of the words or recognise
the form of sentences – when in the words of the Bengali poet, &quot;the form
has not been seen, the qualities not heard about&quot; (<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>&nbsp; </span>), then and then alone do we get the pure
music of the words and can catch its rhythm in our inner hearing. For some
time past there has come into vogue in the world of art, especially the art of
painting, a phrase called &quot;pure art&quot;. This implies an arrangement of
form and line free from the burden of subject-matter, a play with pure
geometrical lines. This alone is supposed to bring out the true and ultimate
beauty of art, its pure harmony. The reason why I have taken my illustrations
from so many foreign languages may have been something similar at the back of
my mind. In<b> </b>any case, here is an excuse I can offer.<o:p></o:p></p>

<div style='border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;mso-pagination:none;
mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none;border:medium none;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext .5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; line-height:150%; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>
<span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;'>Page – 95 
<o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

</div>

</div>

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