twiggytate
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2007
- Messages
- 1
- Gender
- Female
- HSC
- 2007
To be able to recapture that rare ability to think as a child- to believe purely and wholly as we once did before life’s disappointments and responsibilities taught us how to become withdrawn, cautious, sober or cynical. I believe that a person tends to drift into the realm of their imagination where life exceeds all boundaries, where you are free to dream; free to be. The imaginative journeys displayed in Coleridge’s poems, “Frost at Midnight” and “Kubla Khan” in conjunction with the whimsical film “Finding Neverland” directed by Marc Foster and finally the insightful picture book “The Violin Man” written by Colin Thompson has helped to further my understandings of myself and the world in which I live in.
As I have mentioned before, the imagination is an escape from our reality which is depicted in the texts through the numerous reoccurring motifs, where we can leave the worries and total dissatisfaction of our own lives and transcend into a world where we are able to independently speculate about our deepest desires and secrets. This total dissatisfaction is evident throughout the journeys of Coleridge’s characters, Kubla Khan and Coleridge himself, where both characters are searching for more than they are able to physically grasp. Kubla Khan fails in his attempts to create a pleasure-dome at the expense of nature, where his journey is conveyed through references to the “sacred river ran” which creates a sense of kinaesthetic motion and progression from reality to the imaginary. Just as a father within “Frost at Midnight” fears his son will be brought up within the “great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim” where the speculative journey is transcended between the past, present and future through a piece of ash fluttering in the fire grate and the constant subtle hint of fire as a unifying concept between the stanzas. Discontentment is also evident through main character of “Finding Neverland”, Mr James M. Barrie, whose eccentric imagination leads him to become increasingly unhappy with an adults limitations and boundaries within in life. Finding inspiration within four lovely boys and their child-like innocence as they play make-believe; where Foster allows us to pear directly into the mind of this troubled man. This coupled together with the insightful, elderly character that is Oscar within the “Violin Man”. Who longs only to perform before a grand audience upon a stage, instead of busking to the lines of people waiting to enter the theatre, his violin evident on every page, becomes the catalyst for his desires; as he plays his instrument he becomes lost within his aspirations and enchanted melodies. Through the progression of the lives of these characters, I have been able to realise that everyone has higher expectations, which exceed normal human limitations, and are only able to be obtained through the imagination. I myself occasionally dream of being someone I am not, without realising that it is my own dissatisfaction with my own life that leads me to speculate about what could be and not what it is.
As I have mentioned before, the imagination is an escape from our reality which is depicted in the texts through the numerous reoccurring motifs, where we can leave the worries and total dissatisfaction of our own lives and transcend into a world where we are able to independently speculate about our deepest desires and secrets. This total dissatisfaction is evident throughout the journeys of Coleridge’s characters, Kubla Khan and Coleridge himself, where both characters are searching for more than they are able to physically grasp. Kubla Khan fails in his attempts to create a pleasure-dome at the expense of nature, where his journey is conveyed through references to the “sacred river ran” which creates a sense of kinaesthetic motion and progression from reality to the imaginary. Just as a father within “Frost at Midnight” fears his son will be brought up within the “great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim” where the speculative journey is transcended between the past, present and future through a piece of ash fluttering in the fire grate and the constant subtle hint of fire as a unifying concept between the stanzas. Discontentment is also evident through main character of “Finding Neverland”, Mr James M. Barrie, whose eccentric imagination leads him to become increasingly unhappy with an adults limitations and boundaries within in life. Finding inspiration within four lovely boys and their child-like innocence as they play make-believe; where Foster allows us to pear directly into the mind of this troubled man. This coupled together with the insightful, elderly character that is Oscar within the “Violin Man”. Who longs only to perform before a grand audience upon a stage, instead of busking to the lines of people waiting to enter the theatre, his violin evident on every page, becomes the catalyst for his desires; as he plays his instrument he becomes lost within his aspirations and enchanted melodies. Through the progression of the lives of these characters, I have been able to realise that everyone has higher expectations, which exceed normal human limitations, and are only able to be obtained through the imagination. I myself occasionally dream of being someone I am not, without realising that it is my own dissatisfaction with my own life that leads me to speculate about what could be and not what it is.
