“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.

But without it we go nowhere…”

The world of imaginative journeys is a place with boundless potential. This endless possibility allows us to speculate and use
imaginative journeys as a means of reflection for the physical world. However, without the vehicle of imagination and inspiration,
we cannot speculate. The power of the imagination is shown in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight” (Frost) and the
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner”(Rime) as well as “Here comes the Rain, Here comes the Rainbow”(Rainbow) from the anime
“Mushishi” directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and Michael Zancan’s “I fill the Desert with Uselessness”.

Coleridge was a poet of the Romantic Movement which revered the great power of Nature and the imagination. The Frost is a
meditative journey through the poet’s persona. The poem has a quiet, reflective property that is demonstrated through the ebbing
rhythm created by repetition and alliteration such as in the lines “'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs And vexes meditation
with its strange And extreme silentness” with the repeat of “calm” and alliteration of the “s” sound. This meditative quality shows
us the use of the imagination as a vehicle for discovery.

In Rainbow we can also see the imagination being used as a vehicle for discovery. Rainbow is a highly moralistic text we with all
animes. Director Nagahama uses the dull grey and blue palette to create a contrast with the brilliant supernatural rainbow the
protagonists seek, to emphasis the contrast between the unenlightened state of mind of the protagonists and the enlightenment the
rainbow symbolises. Because this journey is set in an imagined world where disbelief can be suspended, the director is able to let
the protagonists directly access the “spirit of the earth” to find enlightenment about the nature of destiny. Without the awe of the
supernatural and without the device enabled by the help of the imagination, the message would not be as clear or effective.

The Rime like the Rainbow is a quest for enlightenment enabled by the imagination. But it isn’t for the protagonist’s sake like in
the Rainbow it is directly for the audience as the audience is represented through the foil of the wedding-guest. The Mariner takes
the audience on a journey where his lulling rhythm creates a sense of movement and his imagery feeds the imagination.

The nature is distorted in the Rime and becomes a horrific force, shown through the use of the lines “Yea, slimy things did crawl
with legs Upon the slimy sea”. This is to punish the Mariner’s hubris in killing the pure, symbolic albatross. The Rime is full of
symbolism, especially Christian mythological symbols. The snake, traditionally denoting evil, is ironically the inspiration for the
Mariner’s redemption. Without this inspiration, the Mariner would not have understood or received God’s grace.

In the “Frost”, Coleridge ultimately also sees the importance the part imagination plays in tapping into human potential. The
contrast in the pent up childhood he led to the free childhood he wishes for his son is emphasised thought the difference in the use
of punctuation in the first half of the poem and the last half. In the first stanza, exclamation is used to denote a sense of quiet and
calm such as “Tis calm indeed!” and “Inaudible as dreams!”. However, in the third stanza, exclamation marks elicit feelings of
excitement and rejoice such as “My babe so beautiful!” and “Great universal Teacher!”. But it is his child that leads him to his
epiphany and understanding as his child is the continual source of inspiration, first launching him on his meditative journey, then
allowing him to go on a reflective journey before finding inspiring enlightenment.

In Zancan’s Desert inspiration plays a large role. The artwork is a documentation of the frustration that a lack of inspiration brings.
The artist is naked, propped up in the middle of a desert, where dark vines threaten to engulf him. The position of the artist in
comparison to the far off horizon shows the distance he has wandered aimlessly. His fragile and nakedness and his crouched frame
reveals a fragility and futility. He is trapped here with nowhere to go. However, in the artist’s hands are a few droplets of what
seems to be water. Water is symbolically a life giving substance, and in this instance can be thought of as a few precious drops of
inspiration within the barrenness. However, the overall tone of this piece suggested by the dark palette, the threatening display of
Nature and the conflicting geometric arrangement of organic matter suggest a sense of failure. But the existence of the artwork
shows that the artist has physically triumphed. Thus the ambiguity leaves the audience inspiration for speculation. One can use
one’s imagination to see if the artist has failed or triumphed.

Inspiration and imagination are valuable tools for the process of discovery and self reflection. Although the places these two
vehicles take us may not be real. Without them enriching our physical reality, we cannot go anyway metaphysically.