Area of Study – Imaginative journeys
General insights:
 IJ can empower the journeyer
o (to change their reality/ reveal potential for change)
o (to connect with others)
o (to explore and experience without consequence)
 IJ provide an opportunity for self-examination
 Our journeys are out of our control
 IJ have the potential to induce change (in the journeyer)
 IJ allow us to escape reality and - explore alternate possibilities/ realities
- re-examine /interpret our current situation
 IJ are inspired by the exotic / unknown
 IJ define our identity
 IJ open us up to new experiences
 IJ teach us about/ are influenced by our dreams and fears
 IJ stem from the real / are anchored in our experience
 IJ test the boundaries of our reality
 IJ influence choices, raise concerns, alter emotions
Techniques used to depict IJ:
 Relating to what is know / what audiences are familiar with
o Figurative language (similes, metaphors, personification etc)
o Imagery connected to established beliefs – CONNOTATION




Imagery – appeals to a range of senses
Change in tense
Person (2nd)
Structure/ punctuation/ form
To cover rubric:
 TQE of imaginative journeys in texts
 Consider speculation, discovery, inspiration
 How can thinking be challenged by the imagination?
 Understanding of the world and self can be broadened by reflecting on
different types of IJ (in texts)
Reading Task:
 Allocate time wisely, and be consise!
 A mark is gained by directly answering the question, giving a detailed
analysis and response
 Must show a sound knowledge of textual features
 ONE TQE PER MARK!
 An introductory sentence that responds directly to the question as well as a
detailed analysis of meaning.
Composing:
 Show an awareness of PALS (Purpose, Audience, Language, Structure)
 Marks lie in your ability to use language and structure to engage your
audience and achieve the text’s purpose.
 Requires you to structure according to the text’s conventions.

This Lime Tree Bower My Prison (1797)
In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem This Lime Tree Bower My Prison the metaphor
of the prison sets the scene for an escape, and it is Coleridge’s imagination that
transports him from the reality he finds himself trapped in, as it allows him to share
his friends’ experiences as they walk without him.
The text uses extensive imagery of the natural world to convey the intensity of his
imaginative journey to the responder. The three stanzas take us along a physical
landscape and an emotional one. Coleridge also uses the motif of light to describe the
change from his dark mood “The roaring dell, o’erwooded, narrow, deep/ And only
speckled by the mid-day sun”, through to uplifting images of the “glorious sun”, the
“yellow light”, the “dappling sunshine”, and the “mighty orb’s dilated glory”. The
second stanza culminates with his perception of the magnificence of the “Almighty
Spirit”.
From this revelation “a delight comes sudden on [his] heart, and [he] is glad as he
himself were there”. He gains a new appreciation of his “little lime tree bower” and
his perspective changes. He no sees himself longer in prison but amongst “much that
has soothed him”. This marks a change in his perception of nature and he realises that
“nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure”.
“Tis well to be bereft of promised good, that we may contemplate with lively joy the
joys we cannot share”. In other words, he explains that being refused a pleasure will
lead to a greater appreciation of that pleasure. The poem concludes with the journeyer
shifting his thoughts back a new empathy for his friend symbolised in the rook that he
sees at dusk. His magical description of how it “vanishes in light” as it passes
between him and the setting sun once again gives it spiritual qualities, and Coleridge
blesses it, envisioning Charles too watching that very bird pass before the sun.
Links to other texts:
Frost at Midnight (1798)
The concept of using his imagination to escape from his limited reality is common in
much of Coleridge’s poetry. In Frost At Midnight, he is prompted to recall his
childhood, which he describes in a negative tone. He explains that he was forever
imagining an escape from his studies, and longed for a stranger to take him away on
an adventure. Coleridge feels that since his childhood lacked excitement, he is obliged
to build a happier childhood for his newborn son. He speculates that his son “shalt
wander like a breeze/ By lakes and sandy shores” and that God “shalt mould his
spirit”. Whether this is a future reality for his son or not, the inspiration that Coleridge
attains from his speculative vision sees him determined and positive. His imagery of
the frost is transformed, from devious and sinister (“performs its secret ministry”) to
beautiful and luminous (“…Silent icicles/ Quietly shining to the quiet moon.”).
- Conversation poem that eventually broadens his own understanding of the world.
“The Frost performs its secret ministry” (l.1)
Here Coleridge establishes an air of a magical, quasi-religious process at work in the
simple natural act of the frost falling outside. The line also implies a strong energy at
work – despite this sense of energy, it is silence that is to be the most overwhelming
sense in the poem.
“Unhelped by any wind.” (l.2)
The feeling of extreme stillness is built up, broken only by the cry of the owlet – a cry
which Coleridge uses to draw the reader into the poem, with the direct address of
“hark, again!” (l.3)
The condition that dominates the poem at this point is that of extreme quiet and
stillness: ‘Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs/ And vexes meditation with its
strange/ And extreme silentness’. The notion of a calm so great that it disturbs is not
only a paradox, but seems to overturn the idea that Coleridge is in a situation of “a
solitude, which suits abstruser musings” (ll.5-6). If anything, the calm seems to be
disturbing him – and this is the central paradox of the poem: the idea of quiet
stillness-in-the-midst-of-movement or of movement-in-the-midst-of-quiet stillness.
The best example of this paradox is Coleridge’s own active mind in the midst of, and
set off by, the extreme quiet. The silence itself is the provoker of meditation. The
whole poem is a fine balance of slumberous stillness and super-sensitive awareness.
Coleridge’s mind at this point moves back into the cottage and focuses very closely
on one object – a small piece of ashy film fluttering in the grate of his fire. This
fluttering film is the central symbol of the whole poem, for by now we see the poet’s
mind as “the sole unquiet thing.
The notion of the play of thought triggers a childhood memory (a time of using literal
toys). The memory triggered is of a similar incident in childhood when he was staring
at another such film on a fire grate while away at school. This time the film is
reported as having been visible against “bars” (l.25) - a prison-like image. This prison
image is continued in the later description of the city itself (“the great city, pent” l.52)
when Coleridge recalls his schoolboy self away from home daydreaming (a dreamwithin-dream) of his birthplace.
These films of ash on the grate were called “strangers” because they were supposed to
portend the arrival of an absent friend. The memory of the “stranger” that he had
gazed upon in the schoolroom when a child makes Coleridge recall the wish that had
accompanied that daydream - namely, that a stranger would indeed arrive - a
townsman or relative from his birthplace who would arrive to take him back, to rescue
him from the “great city, pent.”
At the end of this movement of the mind into the past, Coleridge now takes his
musing into the future - the past movement of the poem is balanced by this forward
movement into the potential future of his own son, Hartley, sleeping by his side in the
present moment of the poem. Coleridge first stresses the child’s breathing as he sleeps
and as he does, we realise that the regular in-out movement of breath echoes the
rhythm of the poem itself:
Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side,
Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm,
Fill up the interspersed vacancies
And momentary pauses of the thought!
(ll.44-47)
The idea that his son will be reared not in the “great city, pent”, but amid the lakes
and mountains is a great source of joy for Coleridge - a typically Romantic position.
“... it thrills my heart
......................................
........... that..........
..................................
... thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze
By lakes and sandy shores and, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores
And mountain crags”
These lines pick up two crucial Romantic themes:
 that the unity of humans with nature brings “Joy”
 that there is an essential unity within all nature itself (Note how the mountains
and lakes are reflected in the clouds).
A third Romantic theme occurs in the immediately following lines, in which the
systolic movement reaches out to Coleridge’s god and raises the theme of the
essential unity of humanity, God and Nature - with Nature itself being seen as the
language of God:
... so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God
Utters, who from eternity doth teach
Himself in all, an all things in himself
In this - and again, this is typically Romantic notion - the poet himself is like a god.
This poet in this setting (the cottage) has also “(taught) Himself in all, and all things
in himself.” The poet sees God’s works manifested quite specifically as a “language”
(l.60), just as his own work of creation - this poem - is manifested as language.
Note that the return to the hush of the beginning fuses all time in the moment of the
poem itself - and also, as we can see through the sound structure of the last two lines,
in the “I”, in the figure of the solitary poet himself.
“It thrills my heart […] to […] think that thou shalt learn far other lore/ And in
far other scenes!”
Links to other texts:
For all stimulus booklet texts, see summary sheets written by the class.
The Wind in the Willows (excerpt)
Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows excerpt sees two characters, Rat and Toad,
caught up in a battle between reason and impulse, head and heart, each intending to
convince a third friend, Mole, that they are right. The text makes clear use of
allegory in its representation of the age-old struggle between common sense and the
imagination.
The personification of Toad as a romantic, rather excitable creature gives him
archetypal features: he fits the mould of ‘the dreamer’, who has in this case
envisioned a pleasant escape for himself and his friends, and acted on these impulses
by preparing for the trip without their consent. He describes his imagined journey as
“real life…The open road, the dusty highway, the heath… the hedgerows, the rolling
downs! The whole world before you… and a horizon that’s always changing!”
The composer’s use of natural imagery and expressive punctuation in this statement
help to convince the responder of the attractiveness of this vision.
Toad’s imaginative journey allows him to believe that his “little cart” will help him
escape the routine and monotony of everyday life, and experience “real life”. It is up
to the responder to see the irony in this proclamation, however, as Toad’s “real life”
exists (so far) only in his imagination.
It can also be inferred that there is a slightly less literal meaning to the text. I believe
that the excerpt is an extended metaphor which addresses an internal struggle between
sense and spontaneity in the composer. Grahame examines his own romantic versus
logical motives through his characterisation of Toad and Rat, with Mole’s undecided
and somewhat blank character perhaps representing his own. The blindness usually
associated with moles emphasises his indecisive nature.
Links to other texts:
ORM 1 – Imagine
Imagine is a picture book composed by Alison Lester and published in Sydney in
1989. The text follows two children through an imaginative learning experience in
which they are inspired to dream up various natural environments and the fauna that
inhabits them. Readers, as well as following the characters on their journey, are
alerted to the way in which the imaginative process works.
In this text, the composer explores the power of the imagination as a learning tool and
as an escape from one’s immediate surroundings to an alternate world full of
possibilities. As the text is aimed at child audiences, the composer is able to teach
readers about how their own imagination works and about the environments she
transports them to in a colourful, entertaining way.

Repetitive use of the word “imagine” (in the title and in the patches of text)
prepares readers for the imaginative journey that is to follow. Repetition of the
word “imagine” emphasises the purpose of the story, and alerts readers to the
imaginative process that is being undertaken by themselves and the characters.
The layout of the text always sees the word imagine on its own – it never
shares a line with another word. This too helps to highlight the importance of
the imagination in the story.

The composition of the text, with an image of the characters playing makebelieve at home succeeded by a double-page image of their imagined world
demonstrates the process that is taking place in the characters’ minds. Once
again, layout is used to stress the imaginative process being undertaken.
Readers are led to understand the manner in which inspiration and speculation
work, as it is plainly put before them in the form of the characters’ adventure.
They are then encouraged to examine the process being undertaken within
their own minds: they too are hearing the description of each location during
the verse, creating it in their heads and finally comparing it with the
illustrations on the following page. Readers are therefore encouraged to
acknowledge their active involvement in the process of imagination.

The written verse describing the location imagined by the characters provides
an opportunity for readers to imagine the location themselves before turning
the page and seeing the illustration. Imagery is used (“where butterflies drift,
and jaguars prowl”) as well as alliteration (“hermit-crabs hide”, “Killer-whales
crash”), onomatopoeia (“crash”, “gobble”, “smash”, “gnash”), and rhyme
(“feed” and “stampede”, “crash” and “gnash”, “prowl” and “howl”). Each of
these techniques combine in the reading of the text to provoke an exciting,
living image of the habitat being described.

On each of the illustrated pages where the imaginings of the characters are
presented, long lists of names of all the different animal species depicted in the
illustration sweep around the outside of the page. These work as evidence of
an imaginative journey because the reader realises that a scene involving all of
these animals simultaneously is unrealistic. Lists are used to emphasise the
number of different animals, as well as provoking a sense of exoticness.
Layout is also used: the lists encircle the image so that the reader must turn the
book to read them, giving the image another apparent dimension. This works
to involve the reader further in the environment. The lists also help to teach
the names of all the animals to the reader.
For the reader, the journey that the characters undertake is a valuable learning
experience. Not only does the text provide readers with the opportunity to learn about
numerous global ecosystems and the creatures that inhabit them, but also clarify what
it means to imagine.
The consequence of the imaginative journey for the characters is complete
satisfaction, to the extent that at the end of their adventure they are happy to be safe
and warm at home, and have no need to imagine any more. The reader too shares in
this satisfaction, and the final image of the characters peering through the windows of
their warm little cottage is a pleasing ending to the story.
In this text, the imaginative journey has been used as a medium through which readers
are able to learn about the imaginative process itself. Upon being presented with an
image of children playing, succeeded by an image of their imagined location, the
reader is able to connect the two images as the one experience, before actively
partaking on an imaginative journey themselves, while still being aware of the
difference between their imagined world and their reality.
This text shows us that an imaginative journey, through literature, is a collaboration of
the composer and the reader. The composer’s description of the journey works to
stimulate an image in the reader’s mind, but each text requires active participation on
the reader’s part as well. The imaginative journey, therefore, provides an opportunity
for responders and composers to come together in each reading of the text.
Links to other texts:
ORM 2 – Clairvoyance
La Clairvoyance, by Rene Magritte, is a self portrait in which Magritte depicts the
artistic process. In the painting, the artist is shown watching an egg yet painting a
bird. He uses two images from the natural world, the egg and bird, to symbolise
change and growth, and the textual gap between these symbols must be actively filled
in by the responder, involving them in the imaginative process. The bird on Magritte’s
canvas has outstretched wings, indicating mid-flight. The connotations of liberty that
this symbol brings contrast sharply with the confined form of the egg.
This text provides scope for Magritte to examine his role as an artist. He demonstrates
the imaginative process in looking beyond reality to speculate about the future or
reflect on the past.
He also explores the power of connotation. He ponders on how much of what he sees
is actually there and how much is fabricated or amplified into something more
dramatic. It is clear that the freedom of choice and movement that the bird represents
are contrasted by the still, sombre and uninteresting depiction of the artist in his room.
The egg in this text can be seen to have metaphorical significance: Magritte seems to
be suggesting that the imagination can set you free of the confines of your egg, which
in this case is representative of reality. While Magritte’s dream of freedom and flight
are inspired by the egg, he still acknowledges the fact that power of the imagination
can be dangerous and deluding. He shows that while speculation can allow an escape
from reality, it remains only a figure of the imagination and ultimately his bird is a
two dimensional picture on canvass.
Links to other texts:
Techniques
Lime Tree
Bower
Religious
Metaphor/
Imagery
“mighty
“Secret
orb’s dilated ministry of
glory”
frost”
capital N for
“Nature”
“Love and
Beauty”
Natural
Imagery
“The
roaring dell,
o’erwooded,
narrow,
deep, and
only
speckled by
the mid-day
sun”
Images/
Graphics
Allegory
Frost At
Midnight
Clairvo
yance
“Shalt
wander like
a breeze By
lakes and
sandy
shores,
beneath the
crags of
aincient
mountain…
”
Imagine
“Where
butterflies
drift, and
jaguars
prowl”
Yes
Wind In
The
Willows
Road Not
Taken
Text 7
Ivory Trail
Describes
a place
acting
with an
“irresistibl
e force”
that will
make
traveller
“blessed
and
altered”
Minorettes
and
pyramids
connote to
Eastern/
exotic/
ancient
religion
“The heath,
the
hedgerows,
the rolling
downs”
Yes
Yes
Animals
present the
battle
between
head and
heart –
sense and
sensibility
Yes! See
earlier
Layout
Moral
Figurative
Language
“Nature
ne’er deserts
the wise and
pure. No
plot so
narrow…”
“Tis well to
be bereft of
promised
good”
“I am glad
“Frost
as I myself
performs its
The Ivory
Trail
presented
with a sense
of
perspective
so that a
trail-like
effect is
produced.
It is better
to take the
path less
travelled
by- you
will be
more
content in
the end.
Onomatopo
eia, rhyme,
“I’m going
to make an
Fork in
road is
were there”,
“This lime
tree bower
my prison”
secret
ministry”,
“my
swimming
book”
Insights
Lime Tree
Bower
Frost At
Midnight
Clairvoyan
ce
Imagine
Reveal
potential for
change
Coleridge is
inspired by
his journey
to reinterpret his
situation
and to gain
a greater
appreciation
of the
nature
around him.
Memories of
his own
childhood
inspire him
to build a
more
romantic
future for his
son.
Depicted
journey
speculates
about the
future of the
egg –
depicts the
changes that
will occur.
In depicting
the
imaginative
process, the
composer
demonstrate
s ways in in
which we
are able to
escape from
reality.
alliteration
“Arctic
hares dash,
and killer
whales
crash”
animal out
of you, my
boy”, “The
whole world
before you,
and a
horizon
that’s
always
changing”
Wind In
The
Willows
“I’ll make
an animal
out of
you” –
Toad
imagines
an
exciting
new life,
“embodie
d in that
little cart”
metaphor
for
choices in
life.
Road Not
Taken
Text 7
Ivory
Trail
Speculates
about the
potential
difference
a different
path at a
fork could
have on
the
outcome
of his life.
Return
“Blessed
and
altered”
Responder
s are
inspired
by the
cover to
buy the
book and
partake on
this exotic
adventure
– allowing
them to
escape
from their
Explore and
experience
without
consequence
He is able
to
participate,
in a sense,
in the walk
using his
imagination
Explores his
past and
compares it
with
alternatives
for the
future.
Depicts an
escape from
reality
Escapes
from his
‘prison’
using his
imagination
– leads him
to discover
that he was
never
trapped in
the first
place
The
“extreme
silentness”
allows him
to journey
between
past, present,
future.
Boyhood –
escape from
school.
the
imagination
can set you
free of the
confines of
your egg,
which in
this case is
representati
ve of reality
Stem from
Journey
Inspired by
Yes
Children
from story
are able to
learn and
experience
through
their
imagination
Toad has
not fully
considered
the
consequen
ces of his
imagined
journey –
his ‘real
life’ exists
only in his
imag.
Here the
imagination
allows the
characters to
alter their
perception
of the game
they are
playing,
making it
more
colourful
and
dramatic.
Journeys
Toad
believes
the
journey
will allow
the friends
to escape
the
monotony
of
everyday
life.
IJ allows
composer
to
speculate
about both
paths
before
committin
g.
Text
claims
that
people
(unconsci
ously)
imagine a
place
where
they will
be blessed
and
altered.
In
?? If there
imagining, is a need
the
to be
composer altered,
is able to
then
put off the perhaps
choice.
everone
everywher
e is
always
searching
for a
better
reality.
Metaphor
reality.
See above
See above
Speculativ
the real –
journeys of
inspiration
Selfexamination
Re-interpret
reality
inspired by
a path he
had
previously
walked
many times.
Inspired by
the bower
around him,
the sun,
sky, rook.
Coleridge
learns that
he is able to
find divine
inspiration
wherever he
finds
nature.
Gains a
deeper
appreciation
of his ‘little
lime tree
bower’
Speculation? Imagines
the path
the silence,
the
“stranger”
on the grate,
by his own
past.
inspired by
the rhyme
and the toys
they are
playing
with.
Magritte
examines
his active
role as an
artist in the
inspiration
process.
is inspired
by a big
decision
in life.
Composer
is perhaps
weighing
up his
own sense
vs.
sensibility
After much
playing the
children
realise that
what they
want most is
simply to be
at home.
“It thrills my Speculate
heart […] to about what
Toad’s
perception
Composer
speculates
about the
two
different
outcomes
of the
decision.
Metaphor
provides a
clearer
way to
express/
consider
the
problem.
Yes
e journey
about
what the
story
holds is
inspired
by the
images on
the cover
Alerts
responders
to this
trend – am
I looking
to be
enlightene
d as well?
Where is /
will I ever
See above
taken by his
friends as
they walk
and the
effect of the
journey on
Charles
Discovery?/
Learning
tool?
“Nature
ne’er…”,
“Tis well to
be bereft of
promised
good…”
[…] think
that thou
shalt learn
far other
lore/ And in
far other
scenes!”,
“All seasons
shall be
sweet to
thee”, “Thou
[…] shalt
wander like
a breeze”
Learns what
really
matters in
life – an
appreciation
of nature
and beauty.
will happen
to the egg…
the textual
gap between
the symbols
must be
actively
filled in by
the
responder,
involving
them in the
imaginative
process
the textual
gap between
egg and bird
must be
actively
filled in by
the
responder,
involving
them in the
imaginative
process
of ‘real
life’ is
only
speculatio
n – he
cannot
forsee the
obstacles
that lie
ahead of
the
travellers.
IJ allows
children to
learn about
the
imaginative
process as
well as the
environment
s/ habitats
find my
Genii
loci?
Composer
learns that
the road
less
travelled
“made all
the
difference
” – don’t
be a sheep
Yes