Nature and Imagination · English Literature

What is the 'Primary Imagination' according to Coleridge?

  1. The ability to memorize and accurately reproduce long lists of unrelated facts and names
  2. The basic human power of perception that organizes the world into a coherent reality
  3. The specialized technical skill required to compose a formally correct fourteen-line sonnet
  4. The act of deliberately daydreaming and projecting wishes onto an imagined future
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Correct answer: The basic human power of perception that organizes the world into a coherent reality

Coleridge argued that the Primary Imagination is common to all people; it is the fundamental way the mind perceives the world. The Secondary Imagination is the specialized, creative version used by the artist.

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