Page 117

A similar technique is common in the poetry of Emily Dickinson, where a number of poems begin with definitive aphorisms based on the simple formula of a predicative nominative sentence:

Faith-is the Pierless Bridge                     (p.43 1, no .915)
Remorse-is Memory--awake--                (p.365, no.744)
The Heart is the Capital of the Mind-     (p.585, no. 1354)

As in the poem by Sri Chinmoy, it is obvious that these definitions have emerged from a new awareness Emily Dickinson has brought to certain concepts and feelings. In an article discussing Dickinson's poems of definition, Sharon Cameron enlarges upon this process:

Names specify relationships that have been lost, forgotten, or hitherto unperceived. Dickinson knew, moreover, that the power of names was in part a consequence of their ability to effect a reconciliation between a self and that aspect of it which had been rendered alien. [17]

The reconciliation of different qualities, states and functions through definitive aphorisms lends itself to the geometric juxtapositioning of certain established series-the body, mind, heart and soul series, for example, or morning, afternoon and evening. Using a similar model in the following poem, Sri Chinmoy defines the position of imagination, inspiration and aspiration in relation to man:

THE RAPTURE-REALISATION OF THE SOUL

    Imagination
Is the rapture-realisation
Of the mind.

Inspiration
Is the rapture-realisation
Of the heart.

        Aspiration
Is the rapture-realisation
    Of the soul.[18]