The subject of sympathetic imagination is difficult to talk about in direct terms. For today’s class discussion I plan on using poetry/ fiction writing as a way of expressing the emotions of a power animal in class. Another item that will be focused on is the difficulties of abstractions in writing; directly relating to sympathetic imagination.
TO BEGIN CLASS DISCUSSION:
A student who chooses to will be asked to read: The Panther (Rilke) and A Second Glance at a Jaguar (Hughes)
The class will be handed note cards with a specific animal (from the classroom power animals) written on the top. Each student will then be asked to write a short nonfiction story or preferably a poem about that animal. The topic of prose should be to express the animal on the card without naming the animal itself. The student should use sympathetic imagination to express how that animal would feel being in a cage for example, or the freedom of being in the wild.
- Abstract arguments need examples and/or concrete images. Use “word pictures” like “illustrations, analogies, vivid quotations, metaphors, similes” (76). This helps your reader both understand and remember your argument
- POEM: “A piece of writing or an oral composition, often characterized by a metrical structure, in which the expression of feelings, ideas, etc., is typically given intensity or flavour by distinctive diction, rhythm, imagery, etc.; a composition in poetry or verse.”
Each student will then anonymously place the card in a bag. A random student will then pick out a random card from the bag and read the poem. The class as a whole will try and guess what animal was the topic and answer the following questions:
- Is the animal easy to guess?
- Were you able to make a mental image of the animal and the surroundings? (cage/ in the wild)
- Were you able to relate to the conditions the animal faced? (Use sympathetic Imagination)(“ a person’s ability to penetrate a spatial barrier and enter an object for a moment of complete identification.")
- Were there to many abstractions? Were you able to gain a firm grasp of the idea presented?
a. To add to this question, I will read from Professor Bumps literature on Abstractions:
i. Hence the usual advice for good writing is to avoid abstract B.S.:
*John Trimble asks, "Are you being specific enough?" (Ex. “The character of Hamlet displays the qualities of a tragic hero.” LIKE WHAT???)
ii. Abstract arguments need examples and/or concrete images. Use “word pictures” like “illustrations, analogies, vivid quotations, metaphors, similes” (76). This helps your reader both understand and remember your argument
b. "When vague abstractions are introduced, the leader is expected to ask for definitions and examples immediately. (Students who introduce vague abstractions should be prepared to supply these definitions and examples.) Why? "Without a firm hold on things, we shall waste ourselves in vague speculations'."
5. What phrase could have been changed to give a better (concrete) understanding of the animal?
At the end of the class I will pose this question. Though writing as the voice of the animal were you able to relate to the conditions faced by your subject? Do you feel that this exercise allowed you to have a better grasp of sympathetic imagination?
