The Primary Imagination Reviewed

The Primary Imagination Reviewed

Traditionally, most critics have treated the secondary imagination as a superior faculty to the primary imagination when they talk about Coleridge's imagination. Since they know that the word 'primary' typically means most important and 'secondary' next important, they try to give an exception to the meanings of these words exclusively in the passage about the imagination in order to avoid contradiction. The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to show that 'primary' means 'primary,' not 'secondary' for Coleridge in that passage, contrary to the critics' argument. Unlike the critics' belief that the primary imagination belongs to every human being, my argument is that it is available only to some people with special abilities. For Coleridge, there are two kinds of perceptions: the first one that is possible for both a human and an animal, and the second one that is possible only for a human. The second one can be obtained only by some people, who are able to feel the existence of God. For this reason, Coleridge argues that reason is for all men whereas understanding is for only a few. For him, perception, instinct, and understanding are essential faculties to perceive God, which cannot be made possible through the conscious will of a person. On the other hand, the secondary imagination can be operated by a person's conscious will to recreate in art what he or she perceives. Coleridge treats more preciously the things done unconsciously than the things done consciously. Therefore, we can realize that Coleridge did not put the word 'primary' at the wrong place.