Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

CWSA 27

Fragment ID: 6810

The Metre of Trance [2]

Is it not the case that, in the metre of Trance (quantitative trimeter) one must either keep a rather staccato movement, pausing with almost unbroken regularity at the end of each foot, or else risk the iambic pentameter approximation by the use of an easy and fluent movement? Thus it is your very beautiful line

Mute the body aureate with light,

that would seem least out of place if inserted amidst other iambic pentameters.

Possibly – though the line does not read to my ear very well as an iambic pentameter – the movement sounds then common and rather lame. It goes better as a trochaic rhythm. It is true that there is this dilemma and the whole skill will then be in avoiding the staccato effect, but that necessitates a very light movement.