1) Why this term matters for CUET
“Fancy” and “Imagination” are central to Romantic poetics, especially in discussions of:
- creativity,
- poetic perception,
- the mind’s shaping power.
In CUET, this topic is often tested through:
- definitions and distinctions,
- association with Coleridge,
- connection to Romanticism and Biographia Literaria,
- assertion–reason on creativity.
2) Basic distinction (CUET-ready, Coleridgean frame)
In a commonly taught Romantic critical framework (especially Coleridge):
A) Fancy
- mechanical or associative faculty,
- recombines existing images and memories,
- operates by juxtaposition rather than deep transformation,
- resembles “decorative” creativity.
B) Imagination
- deeper creative power,
- unifies and transforms experience,
- produces organic form,
- synthesises opposites, creating new meaning.
Key point: Fancy rearranges; imagination creates/organises at a higher level.