Imagination and Literature The importance and influence of the imagination on the creation and criticism of literature varies between and within various artistic eras. Originally regarded as an aberrant function of the mind, the imagination was subservient to the powers of reason and order. Art implied the mere replication of reality, a craft rather than a unique creative act. Since Aristotle, however, human imagination has been linked to the power and value of art. The rise and, in some eras, even superiority, of the imagination as a powerful mental faculty has given rise to new critical enterprises intended to articulate the manner, motivation, and merit inherent in art and the artistic process. By tracing the development of this basic literary concept, it may not be possible to discover a coherent and universal idea of ​​imagination that has evolved throughout history. However, such inquiry could lead to a better understanding of how one era's ideas and attitudes toward the imagination enter into an informative and influential dialogue with others. From the rational and pragmatic critics of the Enlightenment to the expressive and romantic critics of the nineteenth century, we can begin to formulate a synthetic rather than absolute understanding of the imagination. Although Aristotle first created space for the imagination by expanding a poet's expressions from the real to the possible "according to the laws of probability or necessity", only much later was the capacity and power of the imagination adequately explored. Imagination was seen as a turbulent, unpredictable, but potentially beneficial force that must be refined and kept within the bounds of reason for the pragmatic critic... middle of paper... every definition of imagination we have discussed struggles to be independent while remaining intertwined with previous critical traditions. Works Cited Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. "Bibliographia Literaria" The critical tradition. Ed., David H. Richter, New York:St. Martin's Press, 1989.Hume David. "Of standard taste" The critical tradition. Ed., David H. Richter, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. Johnson, Samuel. "Rambler, No. 4" The Critical Tradition.Ed., David H. Richter, New York: St. Martin's Press,1989.---. "Rasselas, chapter 10" The critical tradition. Ed., David H. Richter, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "A defense of poetry" The critical tradition. Ed., David H. Richter, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.