What is esemplastic imagination?

What is esemplastic imagination?

In the Biographia Literaria, Coleridge has a chapter titled “On the imagination, or esemplastic power.” Esemplastic is a word he devised himself from Greek and means “to shape into one” (7,1: 168). The phrase ‘esemplastic power’ suggests that the imagination itself has some kind of agency in the real world.

What is secondary imagination?

The secondary imagination is the way our minds reconstruct events and situations in relationship to our own worlds and understandings of that world. The idea is kind of synergetic in that the parts and pieces when put together have a greater value than their individual worth.

What is Coleridge theory of imagination?

Coleridge refers to the “esemplastic power of the imagination”, “esemplastic” meaning “shaping into One”. Imagination- Coleridge‟s “esemplastic” power is intuitive, unitive, Imagination is the capacity to image in a creative, Whole-seeking way, and in doing so to perceive the Oneness of the universe.

What does Coleridge mean by secondary imagination?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge divides imagination into two parts: the primary and secondary imagination. The secondary imagination is an echo of the primary. It is like the former in every way except that it is restricted in some capacity.

What is the difference between fancy and imagination?

Imagination is not mere copy or imitation; it means a power which the artist can use only at his best. A further distinction made by Coleridge is that fancy tends to be too personal, subjective, and erratic whereas imagination is objective, universal.

Who introduced the term esemplastic imagination?

Esemplastic is a qualitative adjective which the English romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed to have invented. The first recorded use of the word is in 1817 by Coleridge in his work, Biographia Literaria, in describing the esemplastic – the unifying – power of the imagination.

What is the difference between primary and secondary imagination according to ST Coleridge?

(2) Secondary Imagination: The primary imagination is universal, it is possessed by all. The secondary imagination, on the other hand, may be possessed by others also, but it is the peculiar and distinctive attribute of the artist. It is the secondary imagination that which makes artistic creation possible.

What is the difference between imagination and fancy?

What is the theory of fancy and imagination?

Fancy, the power of conception and representation in artistic expression (such as through the use of figures of speech by a poet). The term is sometimes used as a synonym for imagination, especially in the sense of the power of conceiving and giving artistic form to that which is not existent, known, or experienced.

What is difference between fancy and imagination?

What does Coleridge say about fancy and imagination?

Coleridge regards fancy to be the inferior to imagination. It is according to him a creative power. It only combines different things into different shapes, not like imagination to fuse them into one. According to him, it is the process of “bringing together images dissimilar in the main, by source”.

Who coined the term fancy and imagination?

In his 1817 work Biographia Literaria, Samuel Taylor Coleridge distinguished between “fancy” and “imagination.” He saw fancy as a logical way of organizing sensory material without really synthesizing it and preferred imagination, which he defined as a spontaneous and original act of creation.

What is the definition of the word esemplastic?

Oxford dictionary defines the adjective esemplastic as: “moulding into one; unifying” Coleridge refers to the “esemplastic power of the imagination”, “esemplastic” meaning “shaping into One”. Imagination- Coleridge’s “esemplastic” power is intuitive, unitive, faculty that sees the Whole behind the parts, the One behind the many.

What does Coleridge mean by esemplastic power of imagination?

Chapter 13 begins with the phrase “On the imagination, or esemplastic power”. Oxford dictionary defines the adjective esemplastic as: “moulding into one; unifying” Coleridge refers to the “esemplastic power of the imagination”, “esemplastic” meaning “shaping into One”.

Who is the author of the book esemplastic?

The cover of Biographia Literaria. Esemplastic is a qualitative adjective which the English romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed to have invented.

Where did the word esemplastic come from Coleridge?

Coleridge contrives an etymology for ” Esemplastic ” from “the Greek words, [phrase omitted] [eis en plattein] i.e.