From Poetic Imagination to Imaging: Contemporary Notions of Poetic Imagination in Poetry

When we consider what constitutes the essence of poetry, we are confronted with a variety of questions none of which may be answered with final satisfaction. One feature that seems to emerge repeatedly through time is the notion of imagination and the term 'poetic imagination' to depict the emotional, imaginative, intellectual and the expressive language used to reflect the writer's consciousness. This paper primarily aims to demonstrate the core finding of my research in the concepts, theories and ideas of poetic imagination. The research characterizes a series of modes of imagination in contemporary poetry. These modes have been drawn from the existing notions and concepts of poetic imagination. The research identifies that imagination in contemporary poetry moves more towards imaging rather than poetic imagination. In other words, imagination shows greater affinity to imaging in contemporary poetry. This paper primarily presents the significant contribution of the overall research which is the conceptualization of a paradigm of various modes of imagination in contemporary poetry, with imaging and poetic imagination as its two ends. Other modes of creative imagination reside between imaging and poetic imagination.