Pleasures of Imagination, The

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | 573 words | Copyright

Pleasures of Imagination, The, a philosophical poem by Akenside, published 1744; it was completely rewritten and issued as The Pleasures of the Imagination in 1757.

The poem is based on the philosophical and aesthetic doctrines and distinctions of Addison, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson. It examines the primary and secondary pleasures of the imagination, the first connected with the sublime, the wonderful, and the beautiful, the second with passion and sense. Akenside's speculations range from Platonic theories of form and essence to I. Newton's account of the rainbow.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Pleasures of Imagination, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Pleasures of Imagination, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-PleasuresofImaginationThe.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Pleasures of Imagination, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-PleasuresofImaginationThe.html

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