Explanation of _To Imagination_ by Bronte.

Explanation of _To Imagination_ by Bronte.

I rediscovered the poem ‘To Imagination’ while reflecting on inner resources in existential situations. What could be the source of consolation or even joyful thoughts? The poem outlines a strategy of coping with a difficult life, with pain and hopelessness. 

For its author, Emily Brontë, pain must have been a constant companion from early childhood. When she was 3 years old, her mother died. A few years later her older sisters, who had partly filled the gap left by her mother, followed her. Their brother, who was unable to live up to his father´s expectations, turned into an alcoholic and died in his early 30s. His escapades must have been a nagging worry to his family. Emily herself was in frail health. She fell ill and died at the age of 30. 

With Emily Brontë´s biographical experience in mind I find the poem´s line of reasoning remarkable. Of course, I do not intend to suggest that it is expressive of a purely personal and individual experience. In fact, the author relied heavily on literary conventions. With the apostrophe ‘Oh, my true friend!’ imagination is personified and the allegorical mode initiated.[1] The final three lines of the first stanza can be seen as an invocation of a muse.[2] The poem´s line of reasoning is a variation of the Renaissance topos of the corruption of the world and the vanity of human effort with the only true value lying in the soul and real life located in the afterworld. In the course of the poem ‘Imagination’, ‘Reason’, ‘Truth’, ‘Fancy’, ‘Nature’ and ‘Liberty’ appear as allegorical figures, and Reason and Truth compete with Imagination for dominance of the soul. Their dispute is narrated as a part of the speaker´s praise of Imagination which is reminiscent of an ode. All these elements of composition underline the literary origin and character of the speaker´s argumentation.

Nevertheless, the first and final stanzas seem to root the speaker´s reflections firmly in personal experience. The point of departure is the speaker´s exhaustion at the end of a long day, which Emily undoubtedly knew as she was in charge of managing the household in the parsonage at Haworth, especially during her sister Charlotte´s absence. It is skilfully entwined with the invocation of Imagination as her muse. 

In stanzas 2-5 the author juxtaposes the negative experience of the outer world and an inner world whose beauty is visualised with the help of nature imagery. The speaker-I, Imagination and Liberty are the forces that shape it. Although the speaker´s reflections are based on the topos of the vanity of human effort, the inner world lacks a religious dimension. It is merely hinted at in the 5th stanza with ‘a lovelier Life from Death’ and only the voice of Imagination is given the attribute ‘divine’. It can be concluded that the speaker who is certainly in part an impersonation of the author, does not turn to religion for help but relies on Imagination, which in her allegorical form appears as an outside force, but is actually projection of a power dwelling inside her, a power (she conceives as) endowed with divine qualities.[3]

 

When the speaker distances herself from her previous enthusiasm in first line of the 6th stanza the poem returns to the level of personal experience. She is aware that although imagination can give consolation by displacing the bleaker vision which surfaces when ‘Reason’ and ‘Truth’ predominate, it is ultimately a delusion. To me this move conjures up an individual with a strong sense of reality who faces her fate with a great deal of courage. The conversational tone with which she addresses Imagination as a friend in stanzas 1 and 6 at eye level confirms this impression.