[New-Poetry] Re: Substitution of Terms

[Skip Fox]

Somehow I missed "a smell (_olfactory imagery_)" after _auditory imagery_.
Sorry.

But another minor point. I probably quote Charles Olson too much (to myself
and others) but he contends, I think rightly, that one mistake of
Aristotelian thought is that people tend to believe that by classifying
something they _know_ it. Olson believed that classification was a worthy
endeavor, though because people "stop" their consideration there, it often
proves a constraint to continued viable thinking. One becomes settled, smug
and as satisfied as an author of college textbooks. 

I don't know if Olson made the following point, but I think he might agree.
Classification tends to freeze potentially fruitful extensions of thought by
emphasizing the differences of things, rather than their potential
interplay. Like the potential for _emotional imagery_. Since it doesn't fit
"in the box," we don't consider the potential that these states might be
just as pronounced, distinct, dense (whatever) as those derived from the
senses. And perhaps those psychologists Perrine mentions who believe in six
or more senses might be speaking of states like this.

Classification is fine as a step in thought, a tentative one, open to
continual reconsideration. At least that's how I read (and agree with)
Olson.



-----Original Message-----
From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
[mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Skip Fox
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 1:15 PM
To: 'NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News &Views'
Subject: RE: [New-Poetry] Re: Substitution of Terms

Just by way of standard definition, imagery is limited to "representation
through language of sense experience" (Perrine freshman text). It goes on:

<snip>

The word _image_ perhaps most often suggests a mental picture--and _visual_
imagery is the kind of imagery that occurs most frequently in poetry. But an
image may also represent a sound (_auditory imagery_); a taste (_gustatory
imagery_); touch, such as hardness, softness, wetness, or heat and cold
(_tactile imagery_); an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue,
or nausea (_organic imagery_); or movement or tension in the muscles or
joints (_kinesthetic imagery_).

<snip>

Perrine (or Arp) then goes on to allow for the possibility of more than
"five or even six senses," which certain psychologists allow for.

Bob _is_ in the mainstream, or in one of its currents.

(Perrine, Laurence, and Thomas R. Arp. _Literature: Structure, Sound, and
Sense_. 6th ed. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt, 1993. 569.)



On the off-track:

But then Perrine "corrects" Dickinson's punctuation and capitalization. (I
got a long letter from Arp when I wrote them about this. Mostly blowing
smoke up my ass--I could have gone for _tactile_ imagery, but thought I'd be
nice. The text has since revered to Johnson's general presentation of her
work with comma-dashes &c..)




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