By James Harvey Stout (deceased). This material is now in the public domain. The complete collection of Mr. Stout's writing is now at http://stout.mybravenet.com/public_html/h/ >
Words are abstractions that can refer to a general thing, like "tree." Our poem can be expressed abstractly, to allow the readers a greater space to create their own image. But many times, our words might be more specific: "willow tree."
"My love is a summer breeze,
Blowing waves on a willow tree."
In that poem, the willow interacts with the wind in a graceful, free-flowing way, and it supplies a clear image of a style of love that the poet has experienced.
Some words are more abstract; they have no physical foundation in imagery: "goodness," "perfection," "love." In response to those words, readers might create their own images of spiritual leaders, or religious symbols -- or they might simply compute them as part of a logical statement. Some people think in words; a mental experience of the poem may fulfill the need to understand.
However, other people don't usually think in words; their mental process is a progression of pictures and symbols. When those people think about what they are going to do tomorrow, they don't analyze their needs; instead they see a series of pictures of the things that will be done.
In some ways, I am more of a painter than a poet; I deal more with images and colors than with mental reasonings. I do not write from the perspective of the mind, although I use the mind to express.
Art can be created from worlds of feeling, below the mind. In such a case, there is emotional excess, self-indulgence, and chaos. But there are worlds of feeling above the mind; and in these worlds, the guiding light is in harmony with a sensitivity and an awareness of life that might be too subtle to bring into words. Yet, if it is brought into words, the poem's expressions are a celebration of the mind's ability to perceive, however limited that perception may be.
The mind's symbols -- abstractions -- imply opposites: good and evil, light and dark. Images, too, have opposites, in the sense that a stone exists in contrast to the space around it. But the stone doesn't have to be experienced as part of a duality; it can be just a stone.
