Primary and secondary imagination

Coleridge's concept of primary and secondary imagination in Biograhia Literaria.

1. Coleridge’s concept of primary and secondary imagination Abdul Ghaffar Jat 2K16/BLENG/4 University of Sindh Laar Campus Badin

2. What is the imagination? Imagination is called the faculty of imagining, is the ability to form new images and sensations in the mind. … “The imagination then, I consider either as primary or secondary. The primary imagination I hold to be the living power and prime agent of all human perception, And as a repetition in the find mind of the infinite I Am.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge; “Biographia Literaria”

3. Primary Imagination Primary imagination is merely the power of receiving impression of the external world through the senses. It is an involuntary act of the mind, the human mind receives impressions and sensations from the outside world. It is in this way that clear and coherent perception becomes possible

4. Primary Imagination : (Living power and prime agent of all human perception). Coleridge asserts that the mind is active in perception. This activity which is subconscious and is the common birth right of all men, is the work of the Primary Imagination , which may be defined as the inborn power of perceiving that makes it possible for us to know things. The  Primary Imagination is a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal art of creation in the infinite I AM. The power of perception, Coleridge called as Primary Imagination   whereas the poetic imagination as the Secondary Imagination .  It differs from the Primary Imagination in degree, but not in kind. While all men possess the Primary , only some men possess the heightened degree of the universally human power to which the poet lays claim

5. Secondary Imagination is more active and conscious. It requires an effort to the will and conscious effort. It selects the raw material and reshapes and models.

6. Secondary imagination is a creative force. It recreates the experiences that primary imagination supplies to it. According to dissolves and diffuses in order to re-create. Secondary Imagination reshapes the data. Thus it is a “a shaping and modifying power.” By receiving and categorizing data it creates something new. For example : water and sugar.

7. Secondary Imagination :   (Echo of the Primary Imagination ) differs in two important respects from Primary Imagination . First, Primary Imagination is subconscious, while Secondary Imagination coexists "with the conscious will" and involves, therefore, elements of conscious and subconscious activity. Poetic "making" blends conscious selection with subconscious infusion, some elements are intentionally chosen while others are mysteriously given or supplied from the deepness of the poet's subconscious mind. Second, the secondary Imagination is described as a power that "dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to recreate." It dissolves and then reintegrates the components in a new way that draws attention to their coalescence. Secondary Imagination bridges the gap between the world of spirit and matter; it fuses perception, intellect, feeling, passions and memory. It struggles to idealize and unify .