STIMULATING THE IMAGINATION

The absence of an explicit visual dimension is a key consideration in poetic writing.

Whereas picture books, film and television constrain the imagination by imposing more or less explicit visual images, words without pictures compel the mind to provide its own "visual" content. In the absence of an explicit visual dimension, the imagination is very much more active.

Memories play a crucial part in the imaginative process. When the imagination is called into play, one's memories are its most abundant resource by far.

Sounds, words and phrases often trigger subliminal links to specific memories or categories of memory. Since memories include the full range of sensory experiences, the triggers may evoke (literally "call out") remembered sights, smells, emotions, sounds and speech.

The imagination, once invoked, is capable of huge leaps of thought. Memories may trigger other memories, perhaps unrelated. Ambiguous words and phrases may evoke different, perhaps conflicting meanings, providing a further stimulus to the imagination. The mind may begin to form new ideas as the sound and sense of the written text react with evoked memories.

A crucial measure of exciting writing, then, is its power to stimulate the imagination. The effect may be particularly enhanced by removing all extraneous information in order to concentrate the reader's mind on the sounds, words and phrases that provide the greatest imaginative stimulus. Arguably this is a primary reason for the reverence in which poetry is held:

• its sounds and sense are concentrated;
• its imagery is deliberately heightened;
• its evoked images are truly personal, even unique;
• the relative paucity of its words enable it to give way quickly to the world of the mind, having first set the imagination in full flight;
• its pleasing effects on the mind, often coupled with its satisfying rhythms and rhymes, make it both memorable and worth remembering.

SIGHT, SOUND & INTERPRETATION

When trying to write evocative text, it is worth considering the different senses that will be activated in the mind of the reader. In essence, these are sight, sound and interpretation.

Insofar as this course is exclusively concerned with the written and spoken word, the visual aspect, the sight component, is arguably the least important of the three. However, it is perhaps worth noting that issues such as layout and use of typefaces can have a significant effect on the reader's perceptions of the work, or even willingness to read it. Some poets play on this theme, for example by:

• organising words into visually evocative shapes;
• emphasising specific letters in such a way that they appear to spell out words that are not, strictly speaking, part of the text (such as spelling out someone's name by means of the first letters in each line).

PG's estimation of the importance of sound in exciting writing is demonstrated by the fact that we have already devoted three classes of this short series to rhythm, assonance and rhyme. The evocative power of sound is arguably as nebulous as the evocative power of a well-chosen typeface. However, a few points are perhaps worth noting in the context of this class:

• Written words evoke remembered sounds, whether of individual consonants or syllables, or of non-spoken sounds (such as the sound of the sea in the word "sea", or the onomatopoeic sound of a word like "pop").
• Sound patterns engage the ear, assist understanding, and make writing more memorable. Metre, rhyme, assonance and alliteration can all play a part in the creation of evocative sound patterns.
• Music provides a useful reminder of the inscrutable power of sound at the level of the subconscious.

The evocative effects of interpretation are more tangible than those of sight or sound because the links triggered by the meanings of words are so much more direct. For example, words like "excruciating" and "squirm" may trigger feelings, while many nouns conjure up remembered images, often including sounds, smells and action.

The issue of the evocative power of meaning will be considered in greater detail in subsequent classes.