Collected Poems - Sri Aurobindo Ashram

Note on the Texts 731
Aurobindo’s seventieth birthday. Following Sri Aurobindo’s instructions
that “only poems already published should be included in this
collection”, Nolini collected all poems, poetic translations and plays
that had been published until then, typed them and sent them to Sri
Aurobindo for revision. The book was published by the Sri Aurobindo
Ashram, Pondicherry, and printed at the Government Central Press,
Hyderabad. Work on the book extended from around February to
August 1942.
Between 1950 and 1971 a number of poems that had remained
unpublished at the time of Sri Aurobindo’s passing were printed in
various journals connected with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and in
three books: Last Poems (1952), More Poems (1957) and Ilion (1957).
In 1971, all of Sri Aurobindo’s known poetical works were published
in Collected Poems: The Complete Poetical Works, volume 5 of the Sri
Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library. A few other poems were included
in the Supplement (volume 27) to the Centenary Library in 1973.
About a dozen poems discovered between then and 1985 were published
in the journal Sri Aurobindo: Archives and Research. The first
almost complete collection of Sri Aurobindo’s Sonnets was published
in 1980. Lyrical Poems 1930 – 1950 came out in 2002.
In the present volume are collected all previously published poems
and at least three that appear here for the first time in print: “Thou
bright choregus”, “All here is Spirit” and “Lorsque rien n’existait”.
The poems have been arranged chronologically. As far as possible,
books published during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime have been presented
in their original form. The texts of all the poems have been checked
against the author’s manuscripts and printed editions.