work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5345,"",Searching in Google Books,2011-09-29 17:11:35 UTC,"Thus far we have endeavoured to distinguish and ascertain the separate provinces of Reason and Common Sense. Their connection and mutual dependence, and the extent of their respective jurisdictions, we now proceed more particularly to investigate.--I ought perhaps to make an apology for these, and some other metaphorical expressions. And indeed it were to be wished, that in all matters of science, they could be laid aside; for the indiscreet use of them has done great harm, by leading philosophers to mistake verbal analogies for real ones; and often, too, by giving plausibility to nonsense, as well as by disguising and perplexing very plain doctrines with an affected pomp of high-sounding words and gaudy images. But in the philosophy of the human mind, it is impossible to keep clear of metaphor; because we cannot speak intelligibly of immaterial things, without continual allusions to matter, and its qualities. All I need to say further on this head is, that I mean not by these metaphors to impose upon the reader, and that I shall do my utmost to prevent their imposing upon myself.
(I.i, pp. 46-7)",,19239,META-METAPHORICAL: apologizes for metaphors. ,"""Thus far we have endeavoured to distinguish and ascertain the separate provinces of Reason and Common Sense. Their connection and mutual dependence, and the extent of their respective jurisdictions, we now proceed more particularly to investigate.""","",2011-09-29 17:11:35 UTC,"Part I, Chap. i"
7486,"",Reading in C-H Lion,2013-06-27 03:17:36 UTC,"Imagination is still more inventive in all its other operations. It can lead us from a perception that is present, to the view of many more, and carry us through extensive, distant, and untrodden fields of thought. It can dart in an instant, from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth; it can run with the greatest ease and celerity, through the whole compass of nature, and even beyond its utmost limits. It can transpose, vary, and compound our perceptions into an endless variety of forms, so as to produce numberless combinations that are wholly new. Even in sleep, when the senses are locked up, and when the exercise of memory is totally suspended, imagination eminently displays its inventive force; which is then so great, that ""the slow of speech make unpremeditated harangues, or converse readily in languages that they are but little acquainted with; the grave abound in pleasantries, the dull in repartees and points of wit. There is not a more painful action of the mind, than invention; yet in dreams it works with that ease and activity that we are not sensible when the faculty is employed, and we read without stop or hesitation, letters, books, or papers, which are merely the instantaneous suggestions of our own imaginations.""
(I.ii, pp. 30-1)",,21163,"","""Imagination is still more inventive in all its other operations. It can lead us from a perception that is present, to the view of many more, and carry us through extensive, distant, and untrodden fields of thought. It can dart in an instant, from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth; it can run with the greatest ease and celerity, through the whole compass of nature, and even beyond its utmost limits.""","",2013-06-27 03:17:36 UTC,""
7486,"",Reading in C-H Lion,2013-06-27 03:23:30 UTC,"In this manner an attachment to the design naturally produces that regularity of imagination, that capacity of avoiding foreign, useless, and superfluous conceptions, at the same time that none necessary or proper are passed by, which is always most perfect in the greatest geniuses, and constitutes no inconsiderable part of their excellence. As acuteness of smell carries a dog along the path of the game for which he searches, and secures him against the danger of quitting it, upon another scent: so this happy structure of imagination leads the man of genius into those tracks where the proper ideas lurk, and not only enables him to discover them, but, by a kind of instinctive infallibility, prevents him from turning aside to wander in improper roads, or to spend his time in the contemplation of unapposite ideas. As the bee extracts from such flowers as can supply them, the juices which are proper to be converted into honey, without losing its labour in sipping those juices which would be pernicious, or in examining those vegetables which are useless; so true genius discovers at once the ideas which are conducive to its purpose, without at all thinking of such as are unnecessary or would obstruct it. The extent of Homer's imagination is not more remarkable than its regularity. Poets of inferiour genius would have comprehended a history of the Trojan war in one of his poems, and all the events of the life of Ulysses in the other: but his correct imagination admits no detail inconsistent with the unity of the fable, no shining episode that can be deemed unconnected with the subject, nor a single image unsuitable to the nature of his work. In the writings of Newton, we scarce find any observation that is superfluous, any experiment whose force is fully implied in any other, any question or problem which has not something peculiar.
(I.iii, pp. 47-9)
",,21168,"","""As acuteness of smell carries a dog along the path of the game for which he searches, and secures him against the danger of quitting it, upon another scent: so this happy structure of imagination leads the man of genius into those tracks where the proper ideas lurk, and not only enables him to discover them, but, by a kind of instinctive infallibility, prevents him from turning aside to wander in improper roads, or to spend his time in the contemplation of unapposite ideas.""",Animals,2013-06-27 03:23:30 UTC,""
7486,"",Reading in C-H Lion,2013-06-27 13:31:15 UTC,"There is in the human mind a strong propensity to make excursions; which may naturally be expected to exert itself most in those who have the greatest quickness and compass of imagination. If it be indulged without reserve, it will produce incoherent medleys, fantastical rhapsodies, or unmeaning reveries. Often, however, the bye-roads of association, as we may term them, lead to rich and unexpected regions, give occasion to noble sallies of imagination, and proclaim an uncommon force of genius, able to penetrate through unfrequented ways to lofty or beautiful conceptions. This is the character of Pindar's genius, the boldness of which more than compensates for its irregularity. The truest genius is in hazard of sometimes running into superfluities, and will find occasion to prune the luxuriance, and rectify the disorder of its first conceptions. But this faculty can never be reckoned perfect, till it has acquired a capacity of avoiding them in most cases. It must supply a large stock, and at the same time manage it with economy. While it produces all that is necessary, it must evite all that is superfluous.
(I.iii, pp. 53-4)",,21173,"","""Often, however, the bye-roads of association, as we may term them, lead to rich and unexpected regions, give occasion to noble sallies of imagination, and proclaim an uncommon force of genius, able to penetrate through unfrequented ways to lofty or beautiful conceptions.""","",2013-06-27 13:31:15 UTC,""
7486,"",Reading in C-H Lion,2013-06-27 18:14:34 UTC,"Regularity of imagination, which is of the greatest importance in genius, could never be acquired without the aid of judgment. It is only judgment constantly exerting itself along with fancy, and often checking it and examining its ideas, that produces by degrees a habit of correctness in thinking, and enures the mind to move straight forward to the end proposed, without declining into the byepaths which run off on both sides. Imagination is a faculty so wild in its own nature, that it must be accustomed to the discipline of reason before it can become same and manageable enough for a correct production. Not will it be capable of this even after it has acquired the greatest possible regularity, except judgment attend it and perpetually curb its motions. The most regular imagination will sometimes make an unnatural excursion, and present improper ideas; judgment must therefore be ready to review its work, and to reject such ideas. Many of Bacon's conjectures concerning subjects which he had not opportunity to examine perfectly, are false though they be ingenious, and would have been disavowed by judgment, when it had canvassed them. Newton's imagination was more correct than his, and more constantly under the control of judgment; yet reason would have perhaps, on examination, rejected some of the suppositions which he makes in his queries. The first sketch of every work of genius, is always very different from the finished piece. Not only are many things added by the posterior essays of imagination, affected by new associations in repeated views of the subject, and thus penetrating deeper into its nature; but also many things are retrenched or altered by judgment on a revisal, which it had not force enough to prevent fancy from exhibiting in the course of the invention. Association could not recal the idea of the design, in order to bring back fancy when it has wandered from it, if judgment did not inform us that it had wandered, by perceiving the tendency of the ideas which it has suggested. The finest imagination, totally destitute of assistance from judgment, would in some measure resemble a blind man, who may be very dexterous in groping the right road, but cannot know certainly, whether he continues in it, and has no means of recovering it, if he once stray.
(I.iv, pp. 81-2)",,21186,"","""It is only judgment constantly exerting itself along with fancy, and often checking it and examining its ideas, that produces by degrees a habit of correctness in thinking, and enures the mind to move straight forward to the end proposed, without declining into the byepaths which run off on both sides. Imagination is a faculty so wild in its own nature, that it must be accustomed to the discipline of reason before it can become same and manageable enough for a correct production. Not will it be capable of this even after it has acquired the greatest possible regularity, except judgment attend it and perpetually curb its motions.""","",2013-06-27 18:14:34 UTC,""
7498,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-01 16:47:33 UTC,"The proper office of JUDGMENT in composition, is to compare the ideas which imagination collects; to observe their agreement or disagreement, their relations and resemblances; to point out such as are of a homogeneous nature; to mark and reject such as are discordant; and finally, to determine the truth and utility of the inventions or discoveries which are produced by the power of imagination. This faculty is, in all its operations, cool, attentive, and considerate. It canvasses the design, ponders the sentiments, examines their propriety and connection, and reviews the whole composition with severe impartiality. Thus it appears to be in every respect a proper counterbalance to the RAMBLING and VOLATILE power of IMAGINATION. The one, perpetually attempting to soar, is apt to deviate into the mazes of error; while the other arrests the wanderer in its vagrant course, and compels it to follow the path of nature and of truth.
(pp. 8-10)",,21355,"","""Thus it appears to be in every respect a proper counterbalance to the RAMBLING and VOLATILE power of IMAGINATION. The one, perpetually attempting to soar, is apt to deviate into the mazes of error; while the other arrests the wanderer in its vagrant course, and compels it to follow the path of nature and of truth.""",Inhabitants,2013-07-01 16:47:33 UTC,""
7498,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-01 16:58:55 UTC,"Some persons possess such force and compass of Imagination, as to be able by the power of this faculty to conceive and present to their own minds, in one distinct view, all the numerous and most distant relations of the objects on which they employ it; by which means they are qualified to make great improvements and discoveries in the arts and sciences. The mind in this case has recourse to and relies on its own fund. Conscious of its native energy, it delights to expand its faculties by the most vigorous exertion, Ranging through the unbounded regions of nature and of art, it explores unbeaten tracks of thought, catches a glimpse of some objects which lie far beyond the sphere of ordinary observation, and obtains a full and distinct view of others.
(pp. 73-4)",,21368,"","""Conscious of its native energy, it delights to expand its faculties by the most vigorous exertion, Ranging through the unbounded regions of nature and of art, it explores unbeaten tracks of thought, catches a glimpse of some objects which lie far beyond the sphere of ordinary observation, and obtains a full and distinct view of others.""","",2013-07-01 16:58:55 UTC,""
7498,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-01 17:19:36 UTC,"The second species of invention we mentioned was that of CHARACTERS. Ordinary Writers, and even those who are possessed of no inconsiderable talents, commonly satisfy themselves, in this branch of composition, with copying the characters which have been drawn by Authors of superior merit, and think they acquit themselves sufficiently, when they produce a just resemblance of the originals they profess to imitate. A moderate degree of praise is no doubt due to successful imitators; but an Author of original Genius will not content himself with a mediocrity of reputation; conscious of the strength of his own talents, he disdains to imitate what perhaps he is qualified to excel. Imitation indeed, of every kind, except that of nature, has a tendency to cramp the inventive powers of the mind, which, if indulged in their excursions, might discover new mines of intellectual ore, that lie hid only from those who are incapable or unwilling to dive into the recesses in which it lies buried. A Writer however, of the kind last mentioned, instead of tracing the footsteps of his predecessors, will allow his imagination to range over the field of Invention, in quest of its materials; and, from the group of figures collected by it, will strike out a character like his own Genius, perfectly Original.
(pp. 130-2)
",,21376,"","""A Writer however, of the kind last mentioned, instead of tracing the footsteps of his predecessors, will allow his imagination to range over the field of Invention, in quest of its materials; and, from the group of figures collected by it, will strike out a character like his own Genius, perfectly Original.""","",2013-07-01 17:19:36 UTC,""
7498,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-01 18:13:53 UTC,"Should such a Genius arise, he could not desire a nobler field for the display of an exuberant Imagination, than what the spiritual world, with its strange inhabitants, will present to him. In describing the nature and employment of those visionary beings, whose existence is fixed in a future state, or of those who exist in the present, or may be supposed to inhabit the ""midway air,"" but are possessed of certain powers and faculties, very different from what are possessed by mankind, he is not, as in describing human characters, restricted to exact probability, much less to truth: for we are in most instances utterly ignorant of the powers of different or superior beings; and, consequently, are very incompetent judges of the probability or improbability of the particular influence, or actions attributed to them. All that we require of a Poet therefore, who pretends to exhibit characters of this kind, is, that the incidents, in effectuating which they are supposed to be concerned, be possible, and consonant to the general analogy of their nature; an analogy, founded not upon truth or strict probability, but upon common tradition or popular opinion. It is evident therefore that the Poet, who would give us a glimpse of the other world, and an idea of the nature, employment, and manner of existence of those who inhabit it, or of those other imaginary beings, who are in some respects similar to, but in others totally different from mankind, and are supposed to dwell on or about this earth, has abundant scope for the exercise of the most fertile Invention. This ideal region is indeed the proper sphere of Fancy, in which she may range with a loose rein, without suffering restraint from the severe checks of Judgment; for Judgment has very little jurisdiction in this province of Fable. The invention of the supernatural characters above-mentioned, and the exhibition of them, with their proper attributes and offices, are the highest efforts and the most pregnant proofs of truly ORIGINAL Genius.
(pp. 141-2)",,21377,"","
This ideal region is indeed the proper sphere of Fancy, in which she may range with a loose rein, without suffering restraint from the severe checks of Judgment; for Judgment has very little jurisdiction in this province of Fable.""",Animals,2013-07-01 18:13:53 UTC,""
7499,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-02 15:37:50 UTC,"XLV
'Then waken from long lethargy to life
'The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought;
'Then jarring appetites forego their strife,
'A strife by ignorance to madness wrought.
'Pleasure by savage man is dearly bought
'With fell revenge, lust that defies controul,
'With gluttony and death. The mind untaught
'Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl;
'As Phebus to the world, is Science to the soul.
(Bk II, p. 38, ll. 397-405)",,21409,"","""The mind untaught / 'Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl; / 'As Phebus to the world, is Science to the soul.""","",2013-07-02 15:37:50 UTC,Book II