How poetry moves imagination to make feelings

    Here is a poem by James Stephens, picked by the Saunterer to show how the factually false in poetry can be emotionally stimulating:    

Mad Patsy said, he said to me,
That every morning he could see
An angel walking on the sky;
Across the sunny skies of morn
He threw great handfuls far and nigh
Of poppy seed among the corn;
And then, he said, the angels run
To see the poppies in the sun.

    (Quoted from page 9 of The Way to Write, by John Fairfax and John Moat. St. Martin’s Press, 1981.)
    For a brief biography of James Stephens, click here. For images of or relating to James Stephens, click here.