Imagination in Writing
My Road Goes Ever On
Turn the Page
I am fascinated by artistic Imagination in Writing and the Eternal Image of God imprinted on each human soul. Beyond human self, our imagination leads us on.
I’ve been reading C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy and found myself intrigued, once again, by the intersection of ordinary human life, artistic imagination, and the Eternal Image of God imprinted on each human soul.
All right, I am well aware that I just sent up red flags for a number of readers who have a strong inclination to react against anything smacking of religious doctrine, mystical mysteries, or the shenanigans of fantastical faith. I deeply sympathize. But as writers like Tolkien, Lewis, and Chesterton, and poets like Emerson, Longfellow, Hopkins, Donne, and a host of other gifted souls have shown, the human race—though divided by space and time—share an imaginative core that transcends not only our own limitations but reaches into a mysterious reality that none of us can properly define.
In the unpredictable way of unfolding events, I found myself dealing with a host of tough issues this winter. How to sustain others when the remedies to life’s painful realities remain ever elusive? As my children who chose “helping” professions have discovered, it can be near impossible, in a given situation, to make a wrong world right.
But that is not what is asked of us. In great stories, we do not flip the page to discover the elixir of life, a prescription for happiness, or the formula for perfection. Everything does not go smoothly. We don’t want it to!
Our minds clammer with important questions—will Frodo manage his mission even when it is beyond his strength? It becomes great fun to hang out with Sam, Merry, and Pippen because, despite all dangers, we trust their simple, kindly spirits to endure faithfully. Adventuring with the kids into Narnia, hoping against hope that, after grief faced, they’ll return home again better for their experiences builds courageous spirits. While taking trips to other planets, we meet other beings and learn how life might be experienced at any time and in any place. Riding other people’s imaginations enlarges our own. The universe gets bigger, we see with fresh vision, and our hearts beat to a new rhythm.
February is a short month, but it can feel interminably long. Dreary runs the muddy brook, choaked by winter’s broken stems. Ash-colored fields crackle underfoot as naked trees moan overhead in the throes of relentless winds. Drooping spirits are tired of work yet unable to rest in a world where children are shot in random acts of violence, wars steal homes and lives, and arguments break out over anything and everything. Few converse. Most curse. And disconnected humans despair of any hope of meaning. We can’t live like that. Not really. Hope is an essential ingredient in life. As Hopkins says at the end of his poem on Justice, “O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.”
There is no crime in grief, fear, or even anger. But the isolation of hatred kills us all. Thus, the value of imagination in writing unleashed and shared. In “Once upon a time…” “It is a truth universally acknowledged…” “It was the best of times…” “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen…” “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit…” we discover not only other souls; we find our own.
Though no story is perfect and few lives run true, an Image above and beyond the mere human self rises in our imagination and leads us on.
A. K. Frailey is the author of 17 books, a teacher for 35 years, and a homeschooling mother of 8.
Make the most of life’s journey.
For books by A. K. Frailey check out her Amazon Author Page
A. K. Frailey’s Amazon Author Page
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“This book comes as a highly recommended read to uplift anyone’s day! Read it as a daily devotional, offer to a friend, or just sit with a cup of coffee and enjoy.” ~A CBM Christian Book Review
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“Sometimes I feel sad about things, personal and…the world, and find inspiration in your stories.” ~Edith N. Mendel Fréccia
For a complete list of books by A. K. Frailey, book trailers, and reviews, check out
A. K. Frailey’s Books Page
For translated versions of A. K. Frailey’s Books, check out
A. K. Frailey’s Translated Books
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