To create an imaginative journey is to invent an odyssey enabling responders to mentally travel beyond the everyday normalities people encounter on a physical level. It lets them experience an internal world of past and present with the freedom of imagination where the illogical can be conceived. This experience allows responders to gain a better understanding of imaginative journeys from the way composers utilise language techniques to express themselves. They can actualise a significant event from their experiences of the imaginative journey through the aspects of imagination, speculation and inspiration. These elements and ideas of the perception of imaginative journeys are depicted by composers in the texts: This Lime Tree Bower My Prison and Kubla Kahn by Coleridge, The Ivory Trial book cover by Victor Kelleher and Tea in a Spaceship by James Kirkup.
Due to Coleridges pantheist beliefs, his style of composing is harmonious, romantic and sensual with strong references to nature. His personal expression of exotic images of nature extrapolates responders into an extravagant journey of his imagination. This style of composition is evident in his two poems where Coleridge embraces his love for god and nature by departing the physical world and entering a glorious utopia through his mind. In This Lime Tree Bower My Prison, he starts his poem melodramatically, expressing his frustration in his metaphorical prison: Well they are gone, and here must I remain, This Lime Tree Bower my prison! I have lost . The use of assonance on the words gone & lost, connotate emotions of loss, and despair. Also, the contrast of the locations, with his friends gone and Coleridge remaining, lead him and responders to follow them through his imagination.
As Coleridge follows their tracks he emerges from a dark dell to an open area emerge beneath the wide wide Heaven . His love of god and nature can be observed from his use of repetition of wide to express the expansiveness and the use of heaven as a metaphor for the sky. This piously exemplifies and complements the outstanding natural beauty of the plains. This kind of appreciation for natural beauty can also be seen in Kubla Kahn: And here were forests ancient as the hills, enfolding sunny spots of greenery, where he employs the use of colourful images of eccentric landscapes. Coleridge also adds a shade of mystery with use of simile on the forests, leaving readers of his poem to speculate and imagine the overwhelming magnificence of the hills. This takes them on an imaginary journey of their own fuelled by the inspiration of the poem.
Coleridges two poems enhance the readers understanding and improve their perception of his own beliefs and ideas, especially the power of the imaginative journey. These ideas are inspired by his passionate pantheistic beliefs where responders can see how he expresses his appreciation of God and Nature and how he evolves throughout the poems. This idea of gaining a better understanding from an imaginary voyage can be seen in the quote: This little lime-tree bower, have I not marked much that has soothed me., where there is use of contrast between then and before, where he referred to the lime-tree bower as his prison. He comes to realisation and discovers that the lime tree bower is not a prison which restricted him but rather a holy sanctuary where he can appreciate the beauty of nature. He establishes that in fact God and Nature is always with him and regardless of where he is or what physical constraints he faces, he can always draw comfort from the soothing qualities that both God and Nature possess. The same concept can be seen in Kubla Kahn where Coleridge emerges with a clearer understanding of the limitations of humanity which can be seen where he uses exclamations - That Sunny dome! That cave of ice!, to exaggerate the impossible perfection which he has imagined in his journey.
A composer can take a reader through an imaginary journey through various methods. The famous proverb, a picture paints a thousand words is seen suitable in Victor Kellehers prismatic book cover The Ivory Trail. Responders are provided with a basis on the context and themes that Victor Kelleher is trying to convey in this journey from this pictorial representation. Upon viewing the book cover, responders see a combination of three exotic pictures minarets on mosques, the Sphinx and the eyes of a teenager, which are all blended together with chiaroscuro. To help convey these ideas, the composer also makes thoughtful use of colour suggesting danger and intrigue of the locations with also a sense of romantic mysteriousness giving them a mood of uncertainty and fear in an ominous style. It radiates a sense of speculation and inspiration that is only limited to ones imagination. This immediately pulls responders into an imaginative journey of their own showing us that the fantasy world is always with us and therefore can be entered through the creative mind at will.
Due to the nature of an imaginary journey, composers can take their audience and portray any type of event they want to them. They can mix two completely unsuited situations together and show responders the extent of an imaginary journey. This style is evident in James Kirkups poem, Tea in a Spaceship. He takes the ideas of a literal tea party and transposes it, through the mind's eye, into a spaceship in flight. The idea is so intriguing that it stimulates the responders imagination - The tea which never would grow cold. The use of negation is used to express the fact that in this imaginary journey, the temperature of the tea does not subside. This new speculation of tea in space lets readers imagine all the other possibilities that could occur in space in this imaginary journey. Kirkup also presents bizarre mental pictures through the parallels between an ordinary afternoon tea and this one. These are strengthened by the more negatives which occur through the poem In this world a table cloth need not be laid no cake-forks, spoons or knives. This effectively shows that previous behaviours that people normally are accustomed to on a physical level, no longer apply in this world. Such journeys are unpredictable without gravity and can not be conceived in reality. Kirkup illustrates that with imagination, responders can imagine and speculate the seemingly infinite possibilities with inspiration from any source.
From the study of these texts, responders are made aware that when they read a composers text, they enter their imaginary world and travel through it with the composer guiding them through their themes and ideas. The responders own power of imagination is challenged to reassess previous ways of thinking, freeing their mind from the physical constraints that they encounter in everyday life. Composers like Coleridge with pantheistic beliefs, show their audience that with imagery and articulate poetry, one can experience an imaginary journey and gain a better understanding of imaginative journeys. Victor Kelleher shows us that responders can also enter the imaginative world through pictorial mediums which can be very descriptive and can spark the inspiration of responders enabling them to perceive the imaginary journeys in different ways. James Kirkup employs unrealistic ideas in his poem and presents them to his audience with close detail to the physics in his universe.