Wordsworth on Fancy and Imagination

                                                        
                                                            
Had been reading through a selected version          
of William Wordsworth's The Prelude but have
broken off to read selections from his prose.
In the "Fancy and Imagination" one I came upon
three sentences of high (to me) interest.          
                                                 
   Fancy does not require that the               
   materials which she makes use of                  
   should be susceptible of change         
   in their constitution, from her      
   touch; and, where they admit of         
   modification, it is enough for her              
   purpose if it be slight, limited,                
   and evanescent.  Directly, the          
   reverse of these, are the desires          
   and demands of the Imagination.        
   She recoils from everything but         
   the plastic, the pliant, and the   
   indefinite.                              
                                                   
These words should make connection bells ring
in your brain.  They did in mine.               
                                                 
                                                 
                                              
-                                                
Source:  p. 437  The Selected Poetry and         
               Prose of Wordsworth  edited by           
      Geoffrey H. Hartman  Copyright © 1970              
      A Signet Classic  451-CJ854                 
      The Signet Classic Poetry Series         
      General Editor: John Hollander           
      New American Library, Inc.                
      Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:         
                                                  74-126353          
                                                    
                                                          
Rho00032