On Imagination

The imagination is the “imperial queen” (Line 1), the dominant and controlling expression of the mind. The poem celebrates the power of the imagination to engage reality and create from it marvelous works that reflect the energy and creativity of the artist: “Imagination! Who can sing thy force?” (Line 13). The speaker embraces the power of the imagination to free the mind and allow it to soar beyond the limits of the real world. The imagination directs both the intellect and the heart. The imagination can propel the willing mind and eager heart through space and time and soar into the “rolling universe” itself (Line 18).

“The unbounded soul” (Line 22) liberated by the imagination can catapult beyond the limits of the real-time world and find its way into glorious mindscapes fashioned by the imagination itself. This is more than carefree daydreams or harmless fantasies. Unlike the limited perception afforded by the mind or the selfish energies of the passions, the fancy can open up entire new worlds in which the poet sees a reality undefined by the real world. Fancy “rise[s] from the earth, and sweep[s] the expanse on high” (Line 42). Although the poem suggests how, within the free-ranging energy field of the imagination, Wheatley can break free of her enslavement, the imagination suggests a much broader theme: the tonic release that the imagination offers from any bleak and oppressive reality (Smith, Eleanor.