This presentation is about the critical essay of I. A. Richards. I have gone through whole essay and tried my best to present it in simplest language. I hope this essay will be useful for you. thanks for visiting. please suggest if you find to change anything. you van also read my blog on same topic- https://jheelbarad.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-imagination-by-ia-richards.html and have a you tube video too https://youtu.be/67UxNPNT8Io

1. SMT. S. B. GARDI
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
MAHARAJA KRISHNAKUMARSNHJI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY
“The Imagination”
-I.A. Richards
Prepared by:
Jheel Barad
(Sem 1)

2. About the writer
I. A. Richards
 Ivory Armstrong Richard’s life span is from 26 Feb 1893 to 7 Sept 1979.
 He was English writer of 20th century.
 He was an English educator, literary critic and rhetorician. His work
contributed to the foundations of new criticism.
 He was the first critic who realized the importance of psychology and
the impact it made on the reader and the society.
 His works: Science and poetry (1926)
Mencius on the mind (1932)
Coleridge on imagination (1934)
The philosophy of rhetoric (1936)
Speculative instruments (1955)
Beyond (1974)
Poetries ( 1974)
Complementarities (1976)

3.  I. A. Richards has given us six distinct senses of the word ‘Imagination.’
1. Production of image
2. The use of figurative language
3. A narrower sense
4. Inventiveness imagination
5. Scientific imagination
6. The sense of musical delight

4. o The production of image.
The production of vivid images and visual images, it is
commonest and least interesting thing, which is referred to
by imagination. whenever we hear a word we automatically
start picturing an image in our mind. This production of
image is done by imagination.
e.g.: table

5. o The use of figurative language
The use of figurative language is when we use metaphor
or simile, especially when it is of an unusual kind, are
said to have imagination. We use imagination to produce
metaphor and simile, that means the imagination helps
us to make a relation of abstract to physical or physical
to abstract. It should not be overlooked that metaphor
and simile have a great variety of functions in speech.

6. o The narrower sense
The narrower sense is a sympathetic reproduction of other people's state of
mind, their emotional state. we read different literary works and watch
movies, even in one novel we have different characters and persons which are
distinguish from each other by their character traits and many other physical
nature. This happens by the power of imagination of a writer who can create
thousands of characters of different type and kind and can sympathize with the
characters mind. This is the reason behind the addition of this category of
imagination- the narrower sense.

7. o Inventiveness imagination
It is believed that this imagination is responsible for
bringing together the elements which are not ordinarily
connected. That means scientist have imaginative
qualities- Newton, Einstein, Edison every scientist has
imagination. So, this is an inventive imagination behind
every invention there is imagination.

8. o The scientific imagination
This power of imagination is similar to the inventiveness imagination. It
is believed that this kind of imagination is responsible for relevant
connection of things ordinarily thought of as disparate (different in
kinds; not able to be compared) which is exemplified (typical example
of) in scientific imagination. In simple words, connecting things in
logical order that means finding connection between various things in a
way that can lead us to a single purpose or a logic. This is an ordering
of experience in definite ways and for a definite end or purpose, not
necessarily deliberate and conscious, but limited to given field of
phenomena.

9. o The sense of musical delight
The Sixth sense of imagination is the sense of musical delight and it is very important. It is about imagination of
the poet, how poet writes. Describing the poet, we can lay stress upon the availability of his experience, upon
the width of the field of stimulation, which he can accept and the completeness of the response which he can
make. Compared with him the ordinary man suppresses nine-tenth- of his impulses. The poet through his
superior power of ordering, experience is freed from these necessity. Impulses which commonly interfere with
one another and are conflicting, independent and mutually distractive, in him combined into a stable poise. But
these impulses active in the artist are mutually modified and there by order to an extent which only occurs in
the ordinary men at rare moment.

10. o How does a poet creates?
Poet makes unconsciously a selection of outfits, habits, impulses through the very means by which
they are aroused, then the irrelevant and extra things are excluded; then what remains he or she
imposes an order on it and then almost always chief or important part his work is then true it is kept.
• The impulses that we have seem to be most uniform and regular are called 'formal elements.’
They are primitive and very common that means happiness, fear, pity, joy, anger, helplessness,
anxiety and such things. Now poet does these with a kind of increased organization and he or she has
this heightened power of combining all the effects of formal elements into a single response.
Coleridge was one of the great artists who pointed out that- “The sense of musical delights is the gift
of imagination so that the imagination have the power of musical delight.”

11. o About impulses-
• Parallel impulses, they all run to some direction, same direction; but the poem of later, there are
multiple impulses they are juxtaposed, they have a heterogeneity and are opposed.
• So this is one of the main difference between kinds of poetry, there is one emotion running
throughout in one and in second kind of poetry there are multiple kind of emotion and impulses
running throughout.
• Another difference is of balance. The first kind of poetry is balanced, It holds one state of mind but
in opposed impulses or conflict they have altering states of mind.
There are two types of impulses:
1. Parallel impulses
2. Opposite or complementary impulses
• In parallel impulse, all the impulses move in same direction. While in other, impulses run in
opposite directions.

12. o Disinteredness (impartial)-
“To respond, not through only one narrow channel to interest but simultaneously and
coherently through many, is said to be Disinteredness.”
Not Disinteredness is one who sees things only from one standpoint or under one
aspect.
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