Epzud

Imaginative journeys can be taken through the imagination or psyche of an individual as they explore, reflect and fuse together the seemingly intangible with reality. Imaginative journeys may draw on previous experiences and understandings but move beyond these limited perceptions into more speculative or fantastical realms. Another way of viewing an imaginative journey is its capacity to draw responders into a fictional, speculative setting. Imaginative journeys which will be elaborated below are represented in the Board of Studies Booklet Prescribed text-“The Ivory Trail”, the two Coleridge poems “This Lime Tree Bower My Prison” and “Kubla Khan”, the poetic text “Ode on a Grecian Urn” composed by John Keats and the visual text from the “Calendar of 2003” by Michael Leunig. The composers attempt to create a world in which imagination dominates the perceptions and views of the responders, as they are taken on a journey of magic and discovery.

The book cover- “The Ivory Trail” from the stimulus booklet represents that the individual may encounter new horizons by realising the limitless power of the imagination. The text provides an imaginative journey for responders as they are drawn to speculate upon the text and visuals provided. The text type’s purpose is to appeal to readers to purchase/read the book, however the references made to reality challenges responders to question the erratic, mysterious and obscure nature of the journey itself. This is communicated through the ambiguous, photographic montage of the sphinx, face close-up and minarets. An exotic setting is portrayed through the back drop of the eastern minarets and the sphinx’s Egyptian associations. The idea of a rare journey is evoked in the title: “The Ivory Trail”. Ivory is symbolic of the rare material from tusks of elephants and is known for its illegal trade. This exotic and rare allusion also evokes feelings of intrigue and mystery which gives an impression for the responders that this text is an imaginative journey.

The caption: “Not all journeys have an ending” is used by the composer to encourage the actualization responders come to after exploring the possibilities presented to them. It expresses an idea of continuum by suggesting that imagination itself does not have an end and that only through imagination continuum can be achieved. The dominant colours of red, black and orange and the use of shadows depict an atmosphere of fear, passion and threat. Subsequently responders do not reach a resolution or a nirvana in this imaginative journey. Through the use of techniques constructed by the composer there is an acceptance by the responders of the imagination to present infinite possibilities as they encounter this journey.

Coleridge like all romantics was fascinated with the potential of the imagination and the endless possibilities of it. “This Lime Tree Bower My Prison” by Coleridge is a poem which celebrates the beauty of nature and the power of the imagination when it is open to nature’s majesty. This text is a conversation poem where the poet is speaking to the responders in a colloquial and personal way which sets an invitational atmosphere for the responders. The poet goes on an incredible journey of the imagination where he transports himself spiritually, emotionally and mentally from a state of despair to one of joy and new awareness of the world. Coleridge beautifully frames an imaginative journey with his precise details, vivid description and imagery which facilitates the responder’s imaginative engagement and thus allows them to enter the imaginative realm of Coleridge’s journey.

Coleridge’s poetry builds imagery of a physical landscape through which an imaginative journey is made, by appealing to the senses and through the use of poetic devices. He makes specific references to landmarks- “still roaring dell”, the waterfall. A sense of vast landscape is established, “wide wide heaven”. His imagery is created through descriptive simile-“flings arching like a bridge”. There is an aural element, for sound devices such as alliteration “long, lank weeds”, rhythm and oral resonating diction. The poetic construct is Coleridge’s response to being denied to physically make the journey with his friends, “well they are gone and here I must remain”. His imaginative journey is compensation that he can not take the journey in reality. However there is a sense that in the denial of joining his friends in this pleasure, he can more fully appreciate the beauty of the natural world. The poet then allows the responder to realize that the imaginative journey is more superior than reality itself since it has no boundaries or limitations; and because of the advantage of endless opportunities the responder can experience through imagination which in the physical world one’s not able to see.

Kubla Khan is in the form of an ode which has been written in two parts. In the first part the responders hear the poet-as-architect vividly describing the grounds within which Kubla Khan has ordered that a pleasure dome be built. In the second part of the poem the responders hear the poet-as-philosopher struggling with the role of the artist and with the power and limits of human imagination in the creative process.

In Kubla Khan, Coleridge immediately puts the reader in the realm of imagination by putting him or her in a mystical place, “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree”. The imaginative journey is further fuelled by sensuous descriptions of the surrounding scenery which is embellished by the use of alliteration as in “five miles of fertile ground with walls and towers girdled round” and assonance in “gardens bright with sinuous rills”. The further descriptions of the “deep romantic chasm”, “a mighty fountain” and “dancing rocks” all appeal to the senses and invite the reader into a languid and sensuous world which is locked within the power of the mind but unobtainable in reality. A whirl wind of sensuous images of nature and the supernatural, a romantic image of a female and the isolated artist muse and sweep the reader into a mysterious and surreal world bounded only by the limits of imagination.

Coleridge uses the juxtaposition of opposites to conjecture on the possibilities of perfection. Through the use of opposites

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