Imagination is one of the main means of expression in literature. Liu Xie, a literary theorist in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, clearly put forward the proposition of "imagination" in Wen Xin Diao Shen Long Si. In fact, whether writing poetry or writing literary works with other themes, it is inseparable from imagination. For poetry, imagination is undoubtedly one of the characteristics of poetry, and it is also one of the most important props for poets to write poetry. Teacher Xie Mian said: "Literature appreciation is carried out with ubiquitous language symbols, which is a re-creation from symbols to rich world. Poetry appreciation is a kind of re-creation in the exact sense. The main way to re-create is to imagine activities. " In fact, it is to grasp the image of poetry through imagination and richly reproduce the image created by the poet.
Such as Ai Qing's I Love This Land.
"If I were a bird,/I should also sing with a hoarse throat:/This land was attacked by storms,/This river of sadness and indignation is always surging,/This angry wind is blowing endlessly,/There is an incomparable gentle dawn from the forest .../-Then I died,/Even my feathers rotted in the ground. //Why do I often have tears in my eyes? /Because I love this land deeply ... "
To read this poem, we should start with these questions: what images are written in the poem and what are their meanings? What is the theme of poetry? Why use "hoarseness" to describe the singing of birds? The solution of these problems can not be separated from imagination and poetic language environment.