Imaginative Journeys

All heroes around the world go through a journey of their own. Those journeys can be a physical, , mental, emotional journey, and lots more. These types of personal journeys are demonstrated in an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, an interview, The Hero’s adventure by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, a short poem, Courage by Anne Sexton, a graphic novel, The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds. They all show how journeys can be transformative and show a person’s strengths and/or weaknesses.

Poetic techniques displayed through the ideas, poetic features and style of the poet, reveal concepts which transcend time and place. In Gwen Harwood’s poem “the violets” her ability to interweave past and present emphasises the importance of memory in preserving ones journey though the universal experiences of growth, maturity and mortality. Similarly the poem “Mother who gave me life” demonstrates the memory of motherhood as a timeless quintessential part of the human condition. And lastly In Harwood’s “father and Child”, the connection between the father and son/daughter highlights that transformation throughout childhood is inevitable. Through the content and the language, the ways in which human experiences reveal concepts which

The use of a journey narrative as both an archetypal plot device, and a technique that facilitates and informs character development, is an enduring literary trope, likely as old as literature itself. The mere fact that journey narratives have persisted in literature, without inherently being regarded as overused, outdated, or clichéd, is indicative of the impact and influence this technique has when executed effectively. Additionally, this is testament to its adaptability, and capacity to complement and integrate within various styles and genres. Conventional journey narratives often follow a basic structure, contributing to reader expectation that a vast, far-reaching journey should be inherently reflected by vast emotional progress, and

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas Foster presents a guide to help readers further understand the novels they read. In chapter one, he claims that every trip is a quest, and every quest has five main components. Each journey consists of a “quester”, or a journeying character that lacks self-knowledge. This character has a desired destination and a stated purpose of going there. Throughout this journey, the character experiences challenges and obstacles, eventually learning something new about him or her self. Thus, we learn that a simple trip has a deeper meaning and purpose.

It is presumed that journeys are uplifting experiences, with the implication that new knowledge and greater insight allow travelers to gain wisdom and solidify a coherent view of the world. Yet, experiences through journeys can result in new knowledge clashing with preconceived beliefs, potentially disabling the traveler’s epistemology. Furthermore, a traveler cannot ignore this conflicting knowledge and return to his prior self at the conclusion of his journey. These themes are explored in Robert Gray’s poems

And examples like these is what made the use of Technicolor in The Wizard of Oz so incredible. Filmmakers, actors, and film lovers across different spectrums were being exposed to how Technicolor made certain scenes in films come alive. The use of vivid color added artistic value to cinema. Color also represented many different vivid ideas and thoughts. And color was an important aspect in The Wizard of Oz. imagine if the yellow brick road was a plain gray or if the Emerald City never sparkle with mystifying colors of green. We would have experience a completely different Wizard of Oz.

The definition of a journey is: “A traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time.” (dictionary.com). However, most modern novels have characters that go through emotional or mental journeys that serve as the main plot for their story, thus contradicting the meaning of the word “journey”. In older works of literature such as The Odyssey by Homer and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, it is more common for the protagonists to step into physical journeys that are often made to signify an important lesson or meaning by the end of the novel. Factors such as symbols, themes, and character change plays a role in helping the characters along on their adventures and adds to the connotation of the whole story.

Oz is shot in bright and vibrant colours, which pertains to the idea of a magical land that appears very opposed to the dull and colourless real world of Kansas, assisting on taking the viewer on the journey ‘over the rainbow’. This goal oriented plot in The Wizard of Oz follows a pattern of development that encourages the viewer to expect Dorothy to reach her desired goal. The viewer then sees each action of Dorothy’s to be a progress of this desire to go home to Kansas.

So we ask ourselves, how does poetry gain its power? To answer this question, we examine the work of poets Harwood and Plath. ‘The Glass Jar’, composed by Gwen Harwood portrays its message through the emotions of a young child, while the poem ‘Ariel’, written by Sylvia Plath, makes effective use of emotions to convey artistic creativity and inspiration.

The “hero’s journey”, coined by Joseph Campbell, is a pattern in the plot structure of literature, myths, and oral tradition in which the hero is consistently faced with similar obstacles and achieves many of the same goals. The first part of the hero’s journey is “The Call.” The hero is usually living a very comfortable and easy life, unaware of the journey ahead. The hero is then faced with a situation or dilemma which eventually causes them to seek change. The hero, at this point, tends to refuse the call to adventure in fear of the unknown. Once the hero has been given the strength to push past the unknown, they have entered the threshold. The hero will experience many challenges and temptations where the hero is tested, eventually reaching “The Abyss,” the most difficult challenge. The hero is then transformed by these trials and returns home to every-day life and begins to contribute to their society. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, experiences the hero’s journey first-hand through overcoming obstacles and transforming herself. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the heroine Janie overcomes many obstacles and is therefore transformed into a self reliant woman.

In the movie: It tells the story of a girl named Dorothy, who ends up in a tornado and gets hurled away from her farm in Kansas to a land that is not like anything she has experienced before. After Dorothy’s house falls and kills the Wicked Witch in the first scene, Dorothy is welcomed by the Munchkins. The kind witch, Glinda, appears and explains to Dorothy that in order to find out about getting back home, she needs to follow the yellow brick road. This road leads her to Emerald city, where she must ask the grand Wizard to get her back to Kansas. Along her way down the yellow brick road Dorothy encounters some characters who all have something they want to ask the wizard. However, when they finally arrive at the Emerald City, they discover the wizard is just a fraud and that everything they had been searching for they can find deep within themselves (metaphorically rather than physically).

Could you ever imagine if The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum didn’t have a yellow brick road or an Emerald City? The colors chosen are significant and give the story a deeper meaning. Three colors that stand out in the beginning, middle and the end of the novel are gray, yellow and green. In the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum’s use of color is symbolic by associating distinct colors with specific settings and characters.

According to Film Art, it consists of “setting, costume and makeup, lighting, and staging” (Bordwell 115). In “The Wizard of OZ” these aspects of Mise-en-Scene all come together to make up a spectacular viewing experience. Created in 1939 and directed by Victor Fleming, “The Wizard of Oz” was one of the first successful Technicolor films. Since this film was shot primarily in color, it gave the directors and costume designers many new opportunities to use color in ways that they hadn’t been able to before. The main point I will be demonstrating is how the filmmakers effectively used color and costuming to convey certain feelings and messages throughout the film.

The concept of journeys can vary from person to person; literally a journey is a progression, either physically, mentally or spiritually. Journeys come under five main titles, inner, spiritual, imaginative, emotional and physical. Practically all texts contain one or a combination of these journeys. Les Murray, an Australian poet, has a very strong concept of journeys throughout his poems. Through the use of such techniques as figurative language and film a composer can express their individual concept of journeys.

Hi, teacher and fellow classmates. Today I will be talking about how a journey can have positive and negative impact on an individual. Journeys are not just limited to the process of physically travelling as an emotional journey can be seen in self-exploration and imaginative journeys can occur to transport an individual from reality into an unreal world. Michael Gow’s play script of Away, relates to the challenges, goals and discoveries which are achieved by the characters Tom, Coral and Gwen as they endure physical, emotional and imaginative journeys, whilst the film To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan in 1962 utilises the innocence of childhood to convey three personal journeys as demonstrated through characterisation and