Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Note on the Texts 697
to Songs to Myrtilla, which was published in 1898. Taking these data
together, one is obliged to assign Urvasie to 1898 – 99.
Love and Death. The handwritten manuscript of this poem is dated
“June. July 1899”. The poem first appeared in print in the review
Shama’a in January 1921, and was reprinted the same year by Mrinalini
Chattopadhyay, Aghore Mandir, Madras.
ANoteonLove and Death. Circa 1921. This is the longest of three
handwritten drafts of a note Sri Aurobindo thought of adding to Love
and Death when it was published in 1921. In the event, the poem was
published without a note.
Incomplete Narrative Poems, circa 1899 – 1902
Khaled of the Sea. 1899. The handwritten manuscript of this poem is
dated in three places: “Jan 1899” at the end of the Prologue, “Feb.
1899” in the middle of Canto I, and “March, 1899” at the end.
Uloupie. Circa 1901 – 2. A portion of the rough draft of this poem
was written below some notes that may be dated to May 1901. The
poem was never completed, but was drawn upon in the writing of
Chitrangada (see below, Part Four).
Sonnets from Manuscripts, circa 1900 – 1901
Sri Aurobindo wrote the twelve sonnets in this section, as well as the
fourteen poems in the next section, in a notebook that contains the fair
copy of Uloupie, which was written in 1901 – 2. The other contents
of the notebook may have been drafted sometime earlier; “The Spring
Child” certainly was. The notebook was seized by the British police
when Sri Aurobindo was arrested in 1908. This made it impossible for
him to revise or publish these poems after his release from jail in 1909.
In the manuscript, the first four sonnets are grouped together under
the heading: “Four Sonnets”. None of the twelve have titles.
O face that I have loved. Circa 1900 – 1901.
I cannot equal. Circa 1900 – 1901.
O letter dull and cold. Circa 1900 – 1901.
My life is wasted. Circa 1900 – 1901.
Because thy flame is spent. Circa 1900 – 1901.