First up, always try checking the resources page. There is some really, really good stuff on there. I also have posted some of my Journey to the Interior notes in the Stimulus Booklet board.
Here is some stuff from my very old, simple essays. Feel free to use my ideas and info, but try to make it your own by adding some stuff. You probably won't get a Band 6 mark if you just use this stuff. You sound intelligent; it shouldn't be too hard.
Thesis:
Journeys may be seen as a path to a destination and can be a physical, inner or imaginative experience. This path is not always simply a literal one; but can also resemble a personal epiphany or metaphorical realisation. Imaginative journeys can be taken through the imagination or psyche of an individual; as they explore, reflect and fuse together the seemingly intangible with reality. Another way of viewing an imaginative journey is its capacity to draw responders into a fictional, speculative setting. This suggests an imaginative journey can occur for both characters and responders, as they imaginatively undertake a change in location. The broad, encompassing nature of journeys ensures that everyone will experience them in life; both consciously and sub-consciously. Yet, the important issue is: the individual’s response to journeys; as this allows for the growth and actualisation required for a significant impact or change. This is imperative for individuals and society to progress forward and is evident in the poems...
Fill:
In Frost at Midnight, Coleridge explores the imaginative journey through a series of contemplative thoughts in respect to the persona’s promise of a happy life unto his child, representing the potential journeys have to promote self-realisation. The temporal and rustic setting established in the poem is conducive to the imaginative journey, ‘Tis calm indeed! So calm that it vexes meditation…” His child serves as an impetus for his journey, as the persona recalls his own childhood through the use of nostalgic language, “I had dreamt of my sweet birth place,” universal themes of memory facilitating the engagement of the responders in his journey. He makes a pledge to his son – that he may grow with an appreciation of nature, “sandy shores and lakes,” through the imagination, and from the “Great universal Teacher.” As can be seen in Frost at Midnight, the persona’s engagement of the imagination results in a greater perception of the self, in turn allowing respondents a wider appreciation of the love he possesses for his child, that of which is in itself a universal notion of love.
Frost at Midnight shares similarities with Margaret Atwood’s poem Journey to the Interior, both featuring introspective journeys, in which its personas engage thought and memory to attain a greater awareness of the self. Atwood’s poetic text conveys the metaphorical allusion of continental exploration, paralleled to the introspective journey of the protagonist, “travel is not the easy going… dotted line on a map.” Images of domesticity, “a paring knife on the kitchen table,” encumber the persona’s ability to gain a true understanding of the self. The need for the journey is made apparent: “have I been walking in circles again?” Atwood exhibits no outcome to the protagonist’s journey; rather the text outlines the process, examining the inherent dangers within a journey so unexplored and entirely personal as this. As an extension and revelation of our subconscious, it is a place to be lost and consumed; “only few have returned safely.” Such a journey could result in either complete immersion or complete revulsion; the persona stating metaphorically, “it is easier for me to be lost / forever here, than in other landscapes.”
---
Thesis:
Imaginative journeys are the intellectual or creative passages into the realms of imagination, conjecture and transcendence. These range from journeys of intellectual discovery to those of pure imagination, challenging the responder’s thinking and providing a channel for reflection on our understanding of ourselves, humanity and the world around us. Through the study of the concept of imaginative journeys, the analysis of various literary and filmic texts provides us with the ability to comprehend the importance of taking an imaginative journey and in doing so learn how it mentally shapes the voyager. The concept of the imaginative journey can be represented and explored in different manners throughout different texts. The importance of such journeys are interpreted and embodied within Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry, Margaret Atwood’s ‘Journey to the Interior’...
Fill:
While these journeys may be used to explore the nature of humanity in general, they are frequently employed as a means of gaining enlightenment, comfort or acceptance. The conversational poem, ‘Frost at Midnight’, details another of Coleridge’s imaginative journeys, which through quiet contemplation and musing helps him to come to the realisation that God will be the “Great universal teacher” who, through nature, will develop his child spiritually and morally. The poem begins with a quiet, yet uneasy and over-sensitive atmosphere, Coleridge deeming it “so calm, it vexes meditation”. However, the end of the poem sees an atmosphere of complete calm and contentment – that which is received from the understanding of God. There is the repetition of soft sounds, such as the ‘th’ and ‘s’ in “while the night thatch Smokes in the sun-thaw”, which creates a sense of tranquillity. The conclusive return to the frost’s “secret ministry” signals the end of the journey, yet there is no longer any unease. It is clear Coleridge’s apparent peace is the result of a newfound appreciation of nature and through it, God. The listener is able to further recognise the value of the imaginative journey as they learn of its power to help us acknowledge and accept the past, current situations and even the future.
Often however, the conscious world of a composer is tangibly manifested within an imaginative journey. Mental expositions can frequently be used to explore the metaphysical landscape of our own psyches, in an attempt to gain a greater appreciation of ourselves. However, as imaginative journeys are frequently used as a means of escape from an inner turmoil, a disturbing, perplexing and seemingly dangerous world may develop. In Margaret Atwood’s ‘Journey to the Interior’, her native Canadian landscape, a comforting backdrop, becomes intricately woven throughout the journey into her own mind. However, the images conveyed are dark, “trees grow spindly; with their roots often in swamps”, becoming a metaphor for her inner self. Atwood uses an extended metaphor to depict the inner conflict between her domestic life and her yearning for creative freedom. Domestic memories – “Your shoe among the brambles” – are entwined within her figurative landscape, as well as references to her writing, “a sentence crosses my path”. These allusions to reality give the journey a specific importance and purpose and allow the voyager to concentrate on a particular issue. Journeys do not become something unrelated or detached; they are interrelated experiences. Atwood’s poetic structure – that of free verse – is used to portray the erratic and unpredictable nature of the journey. Long sentences allow her to convey a ‘stream of consciousness’ quality while unconventionally structured stanzas and syntax portray the journey’s disorientated atmosphere. Both the audience and the composer learn that, while imaginative journeys may be used to escape a conflict in reality, the human mind is a confusing, forbidding and often precarious setting.
Not perfect, but I hope it helps.
