The Imagination by I.A. Richards

 THE IMAGINATION

-I.A. Richards

Literary criticism has found itself as an important and independent branch. It establish 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 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.

I.A.Richards gave us six distinct senses of the word 'imagination'.

1. Production of image

2. The use of figurative language

3. The narrower sense

4. Inventiveness imagination

5. The scientific imagination

6. The sense of musical delight

1.) Production of Image:

The production of vivid images and visual images, it is commonest and least interesting thing which is referred to by imagination. whenever we hear a word we automatically starts picturing  an image in our mind. This production of image is done by imagination. Thus, I say a word and you picture it in your mind it is a first sense of imagination.

2.) The use of figurative language:

The use of figurative language is when we use metaphor or simile, especially when it is of an unusual kind, are said to have imagination. We use imagination to produce metaphor and simile that means the imagination helps us to make a relation of abstract to physical or abstract to abstract. It should not be overlooked that metaphor and simile have a great variety of functions in speech. For an example when we say time passes like a water in river, here simile is obviously between time which is abstract thing and water which is physical in nature. So we connected them and it makes sense, it is considered to be done by imagination.  

3.) The narrower sense:

The narrower sense is a sympathetic reproducing of other people's state of mind, their emotional state. we read different literary works and watch movies, even in one novel we have different characters and persons which are distinguish from each other by their character traits and many other physical nature. This happens by the power of imagination of a writer who can create thousands of characters of different type and kind and can sympathize with the characters mind. This is the reason behind the addition of this category of imagination- the narrower sense.  

4.) Inventiveness imagination:

It is believed that this imagination is responsible for bringing together the elements which are not ordinarily connected. That means scientist have imaginative qualities- Newton, Einstein, Edison every scientist has imagination. So, this is an inventive imagination behind every invention there is imagination.

5.) The scientific imagination:

This power of imagination is similar to the inventiveness imagination. It is believed that this kind of imagination is responsible for relevant connection of things ordinarily thought of as disparate (different in kinds; not able to be compared) which is exemplified (typical example of) in scientific imagination. In simple words, connecting things in logical order that means finding connection between various things in a way that can lead us to a single purpose or a logic. This is an ordering of experience in definite ways and for a definite end or purpose, not necessarily deliberate and conscious, but limited to given field of phenomena. 

6.) The sense of musical delight:

The Sixth sense of imagination is the sense of musical delight and it is very important it is about imagination of the poet, how poet writes. Describing the poet, we can lay stress upon the availability of his experience, upon the width of the field of stimulation, which he can accept and the completeness of the response which he can make. Compared with him the ordinary man Suppresses nine-tenth- of his impulses because he is Incapable of managing them without confusion. He goes about in blinkers because what he would, otherwise he would upset him. But the poet through his superior power of ordering, experience is freed from these necessity. Impulses which commonly interfere with one another and are conflicting, independent and mutually distractive, in him combined into a stable poise.  But these impulses active in the artist are mutually modified and there by order to an extent which only occurs in the ordinary men at rare moment. when he or she is having extreme happiness like ascetic joy of love or having a child or something like that. In this moment, he is by inhibition a weakened: his responsive canalized- to use an inappropriate metaphor- by routine and by practical but district a convenience, break loose and make up a new order with one another; he feels as though everything was beginning anew. But for most men after a year early years such experiences are infrequent; a time comes when they are incapable of them are unaided and they receive them only to the arts.

In simpler form, Richard says that a poet arranges his experiences and lays them in a style which is not possible for an ordinary person. So the poet always does it better. We all have experiences and it leaves some effects upon us but when we try to order them in a way or sense it does not or may not happen but when a poet creates a poem or poetry, he or she usually arranges the universal experiences into something of an art. Ordinary man my feel it at times when he or she is having extreme happiness like ascetic joy of love or having a child or something like that but it does not happen very frequently to common people so only great artists and their work of art can stimulate such great experience.

How does a poet creates?

The poet makes unconsciously the selection which outwits the force of habit; The impulse is he awakens are freed, through the very means by which there arose from the inhibition that ordinary circumstances encourage; the irrelevant and and the extraneous is excluded; and upon the resulting simplified but widened field of impulses imposes an order which their greater plasticity allows them to accept. Almost always to the chief part of his work is done through those impulses which we have seen to be the most uniform and regular, those which areas by what are called 'formal element.' They are also the most primitive and for the reason commonly among those which are most inhibited, most curtailed and subordinated to superimposed purposes. what is much more essential is the increased organization, the height power of combining all the several effects of formal elements into a single response, which the poet bestows. To point out that the sense of musical delight is a gift of imagination was one of the Coleridge's most brilliant feats. Poetry is the chief exponent, in this matter he gives the example of tragedy where he talks about pity and terror. How they are together pity and terror in a tragedy. In tragedy we feel pity on a character and we also feel terror on same character both remains in the same instance and the same scene and still we can feel the response that is catharsis. He says that this kind of response can be created only by a great poet. 

In simpler form, He or she makes unconsciously a selection of outfits, habits, impulses through the very means by which they are aroused, then the irrelevant and extra things are excluded; then what remains he or she imposes an order on it and then almost always chief or important part his work is then true it is kept. So the impulses that we have seem to be most uniform and regular which they call 'formal elements.' They are primitive and very common that means happiness, fear, pity, joy, anger, helplessness, anxiety and such things. Now poet does these with a kind of increased organization and he or she has this heightened power of combining all the effects of formal elements into a single response. Coleridge was one of the great artists who pointed out that the sense of musical delights is the gift of imagination so that the imagination have the power of musical delight. 

There are two ways in which impulses may be organized; by exclusion and by inclusion, by synthesis and by elimination. Although the every coherent state of mind depends upon both. It is permissible to contrast experiences which win stability and order through a narrowing of response with those which widen it. A very great deal of poetry and art is content with the full, ordered development of comparatively special and limited experiences, with a definite emotion. The structures of these two kinds of experiences at different and the difference is not one of subject but of the relations intense of the several impulse active in the experience. A poem of first group is built out of sets of impulses which run parallel, which has the same direction. In a poem of a second group the most obvious feature is an extraordinary heterogeneity of a distinguishable impulses. But they are more than heterogeneous, they are opposed.  They are such that in ordinary, non poetic, non imaginative experience, one or other set would be suppressed to give as it might appear freer or development to the others. The difference comes out clearly if we consider how comparatively unstable poems of the first kind are. They will not bear an ironical contemplation. Irony in this sense can consists in the bringing in of the opposite, the complementary impulses; that is why poetry which is exposed to it is not of the highest order, and why irony itself is so constantly a characteristic of poetry which is. 

In simpler form, How can this impulse be organized? Richard says that there are two ways one by exclusion and by inclusion and second by synthesis and by elimination. Although every core and state of mind depends upon both. It is possibly are going to contrast experiences which means stability and order to on narrowing of response with those which widen it when some work of art has a single kind of feeling as a desired response that is considered as a good work of art or good poetry but then there are some other works, poetry which can invoke more than feeling more than one response, these kind of works are distinguished from other works. How? The difference is in the relation of the several impulses active in the experience  when we experience something there are several impulses which are active  so when the first kind of poem they have this very parallel impulses, they all run to some direction same direction but the poem of later there are multiple impulses they are juxtaposed, they have a heterogeneity and they are opposed. so this is one of the main difference between simple kind of poetry where there is one emotion running throughout and second kind of poetry where multiple kind of emotion and impulses are running throughout another difference is that of balance. When we have the first kind of poetry that is balanced. It holds one state of mind but opposed impulses or conflict they who helped to altering states. 

When that happens that means we are not using our only focus to get it that means various aspects of out mind are reacting to it and various aspect of that particular impulse is being affected in our mind. So Richard says that it is the disinterested activity that we generally say in the field of criticism. So it becomes disinterested because it is not interested for any on impulse but multiple so when we see them from every side all around then we can actually know that they are such impulses in the works some interest we should not see nut they are more or less involved in it. Richard says that impersonal becomes a curious way seeing that our personality is more completely involved in it. So when we say we are detached that is actually our main focus is detached from there and our various faculties of mind are attached there. "To respond, not through one narrow channel to interest, but simultaneously and coherently through many, is to be disinterested in the only sense of the word which concerns us here." A state of mind, which is not disinterested is one which sees things only from one standpoint or under one aspect. At the same time since more of our personality is engaged the Independence and individuality of other thing becomes greater. We seem to see 'all around' them, to see them as they are really are. We see them apart from any one particular interest which they may have for us. Of course without some interest we should not see them at all, but the less any one particular interest is indispensable, the more detached our attitude becomes. And to say that we are 'impersonal' is merely a curious way of saying that our personality is more completely involved .

The Imagination by I. A. Richards from Jheel Barad