Critical Theories of Imagination and Imagery: Augustan vs. Romantic

Abstract

詩論에 있어서 想像力 理論이 부각되기 시작한 것은 오랜 옛날의 일이지만, 이미지를 시의 통합원리로 생각하고 이미지 창조기능으로서의 상상력을 논의한 것은 영문학사를 더듬어 볼때 낭만주의시대 특히 워즈워드와 코울리지에서 비롯된다.

본 논문에서는 Augustan age (Pope의 시대)와 낭만주의 시대의 상상력과 이미지의 시적기능에 대한 상반된 비평을 주로 이론적 입장에서 비교해 보았다.

Pope의 시대에는 상상력 보다는 理性이 중요시되었고 詩의 통일된 구조는 주로 논리적 맥락에 의해 형성된다고 생각했다. 그 당시는 상상력을 주로 Chimera와 같은 괴물을 상상해내는 정신력이라 하여, 그것이 지나친 경우 비난의 대상이 되었다.

낭만주의의 상상력은 이?訣嗤? 창조하는 기능으로 정의되며 이미지는 시적구조의 중심으로 생각되기에 이르렀다. 특히 Coleridge의 상상력이론은 그 현대적 의의가 크며, Wordsworth의 서문(1815) 또한 주목할 만하다.

The imporance of imagination in the poetic composition has long since been recognized, but it was in the Romantic period that the poetic image was considered as the higher unifying principle of creating an organic structure of poetry, and that imagination was defined as the mental power of creating images. In this essay, I tried to discuss the two dissenting theories of imagination and imagery-the Agustan and the Romantic-from the purely critical point of view.

The Augustan era (i.e., the age of Alexander Pope) was the age of reason, and the integrated structure of poetry was believed to be given by the logical thread. The Augustans had an atomistic concept of imagination-the power of recollecting past impressions and reorganizing them into a whole, while the romantic poets paid attention to the creative aspect of it.

The Romanticists thought of imagination as the true mark of poetic genius, and of imagery as the central part of poetic structure. Coleridge's idea of imagination and his view of the poetic image as an organic growth, and Wordsworth's explanasion of the image-making processes are of great significance to the modern poetics.

The imporance of imagination in the poetic composition has long since been recognized, but it was in the Romantic period that the poetic image was considered as the higher unifying principle of creating an organic structure of poetry, and that imagination was defined as the mental power of creating images. In this essay, I tried to discuss the two dissenting theories of imagination and imagery-the Agustan and the Romantic-from the purely critical point of view.

The Augustan era (i.e., the age of Alexander Pope) was the age of reason, and the integrated structure of poetry was believed to be given by the logical thread. The Augustans had an atomistic concept of imagination-the power of recollecting past impressions and reorganizing them into a whole, while the romantic poets paid attention to the creative aspect of it.

The Romanticists thought of imagination as the true mark of poetic genius, and of imagery as the central part of poetic structure. Coleridge's idea of imagination and his view of the poetic image as an organic growth, and Wordsworth's explanasion of the image-making processes are of great significance to the modern poetics.