The Imagination essay by . I. A. Richard

The Imagination
 By: I.A.Richard 

Introduction:

                              Literary criticism has found itself as an important and independent branch. In established new horizons. A numbers of scholars have emerged as critics and interpreted literature in order to help a common reader I.A Richards and T.S Eliot’s are considered as ‘ the father of new criticism.’ I.A. Richards has contributed in the development of literary criticism by his distinctive essays like his practical criticism, four types of meaning. Imagination and many other. At present we are concerned with his views on the imagination.

Six Senses of Imagination:

                        According to I.A.Richards, we can define the term ‘imagination’ at least in six distinct senses. He discusses various meaning and concepts of the same term and then considers a particular concept the most important. According to I.A.Richards, it is convenient to seprant than before passing on to consider the work which is most important.

1) Production of Image:

                    The first concept of Imagination is very common and that is the production of various Image usually visual Images. The production of various images and visual images are two most commonest and the most interesting thing which is refered by imagination.

2) The use of Figurative language.

                Another concept of Imagination is the use of Figurative language people who naturally employ metaphor and simile especially when it is of an unusual kind are same to have imagination. It should not be over looked that metaphor and simile are the two which may be considered together. They have great variety of function in speech. This is the best most common scientific use of metaphor. It is in imitative language and in poetry.

For example…..

Shelly’s done of many colored glass.

                   It is only example which sprit to mind. Some attitude of speaker to subject or to his audience is using the metaphor as a tool of expression.

Gibbon said….

“The freedom of writing has indeed provol a strict tribe but as I was safe from the stings, I was soon accustomed to the buzz of the hornets’.”

               There are  few metaphors whose effect can be traced to the logical relation. Metaphor is a method by which a great variety of elements can be brought in the experience.

3) The Narrower sense:

               A narrower sense is that in which sympathetic reproduction of other people’s state of mind. Particularly their emotional state of mind is such imagination can be found in plays. The dramatists say that the critic who thinks that is persons behave unfortunally.

“You haven’t enough imagination.”

                 This kind of Imagination is plainly a necessity for communication bed plays to be successful require it as much as ood plays.

4) Inventiveness Imagination:

                 It is an another important sense. It brings the element together which are not connected. According to this ‘Edison’ is said to have imagination and any fantastic romance will show it ‘excelsis’. The crazy people will beat any us at combining odd ideas. Example for…

“Doctor Cook outstrips Peary and outshines Sir John barbry.”

5) The scientific imagination:

                  Fifth concept according to I.A.Richards is the scientific Imagination. This is an order of experienced in definitive ways and definite end or purpose not necessarily deliberate and conscious. But limited to a given field. The technical victory of the art is the examples of this kind of imagination.

6) The sense of Musical delight.

                    Finally we come to the sense of imagination with which we are here most concerned. It is closely connected with Coleridge’s concept of Imagination. It is Coleridge’s great contribution to critical theory. In his words Imagination mean…..

“That sympathetic and magical power to which we have exclusively appropriated the name is imagination.”

                  It is a sense of novelty and freshness with old and familiar abject a more that usual order. The sense of musical delight, and modifying a series of thoughts by someone pre-dominant thought or feeling these are gifts of imagination.

               In describing the poet we laid stress upon the availability of his experience, upon the availability of the field and the completeness of the response which we can  make compared with him the ordinary man control nine tenths of his spirit because he is an uncapable of managing them without confusion. To point out that….

 “The sense of musical delight is a gift of the imagination.’

It was one of Coleridge’s most brilliants fea.

Impulses in poetry :

         There are two ways in which impulses may be organized. 

1)By exclusion and inclusion 

2)By synthesis and elimination. 

        A very great deal of poetry and art is its content with specific emotion like joy, sorrow,  pride,  love, admiration mood etc..And  such art has its own value and its own place in human affairs. No one will qualler with 

Break... Break...Break 

Or with the 

Coronach or Race Aylmer or loves philosophy. 

But they are not the greatest kind of poetry.  We do not expect from them what we find in 'ode to the nightingle',  proud Maisie sir Petrie's spent. 

" The definition of Love " or in" The nocturnal upon s.  Lycie 's day ". 

          The structure of this two kind of experience are different a poem of the first group is built out of sets of impulses which run pareller in the poem of second group there are the most extraordinary impulses. 

     

          This apposed impulses can not be analysed,  when they are aroused by formal means it is impossible to do so. But sometimes it is possible to go a step further then the critisism of the other arts. 

Suppression and sublimition :

    

                Suppression and sublimition are the tools by which might confused use the sense of tragedy is forces us to live for a moment without their when we succeed we find that their is no different and the difficulty came from suppress and sublimition. 

               The joy is not the indieatic that " All is right with the words."  or " somewhere and somehow there is justice."  It is an indication that all is right here and how in the nervous system because tragedy is the experience which invites this excuse.  It is the greatest and rare things in literature. That is why "Romio and Juliet"  is not a tragedy in the sense King Lear. 

       In tragedy there are terror and pity,  horror and dread,  regreat and shame which shows the adjective pitiable in place of 'piteous'.  It is the relation between two sets of passion and that is pity. And terror which is the characteristics of tragedy. Pity and terror are opposites in the sense in which dread are dread or horror are not dread or horror are nearer then terror and pity because they can't attract as well as hate each other.        

           Although for most people the experience of watching tragedies are infrequents from the arts. The most important general condition is mental health,  a high state of ' vigilance'. 

       

            Dispite of all these different there is certain general similarity which lead to the legends of the 'aesthetic'  state. 

" Aesthetic emotion and the single quality  beauty. " 

Conclusion : 

          Finally,  we may conclude the present discussion with such finding that imagination has its various concept.  Imagination plays very vital role in creation of literature the performance of tragedy gives an apportanity to some basic intintcs like pity and terror to come out.