be recognized even by those who are incapable of grasping all the
intellectual distinctions involved.


_3. Poetic Imagination in Particular_

We are now ready, after this consideration of the creative and artistic
imagination, to look more closely at some of the qualities of the poetic
imagination in particular. The specific formal features of that
imagination lie, as we have seen, in its use of verbal imagery, and in the
combination of verbal images into rhythmical patterns. But are there not
functions of the poet's mind preceding the formation of verbal images? The
psychology of language is still unsettled, and whether a man can think
without the use of words is often doubted. But a painter can certainly
"think" in terms of color, as an architect or mathematician can "think" in
terms of form and space, or a musician in terms of sound, without
employing verbal symbols at all. And are there not characteristic
activities of the poetic imagination which antedate the fixation and
expression of images in words? Apparently there are.

The reader will find, in the "Notes and Illustrations" for this chapter, a
quotation from Mr. Lascelles-Abercrombie, in which he refers to the
"region where the outward radiations of man's nature combine with the
irradiations of the world." That is to say, the inward-sweeping stream of
consciousness is instantly met by an outward-moving activity of the brain
which recognizes relationships between the objects proffered to the senses
and the personality itself. The "I" projects itself into these objects,
claims them, appropriates them as a part of its own nature. Professor
Fairchild, who calls this self-projecting process by the somewhat
ambiguous name of "personalizing," rightly insists, I believe, that poets