?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Light%2C+Fire%2C+Prison%3A+A+Cognitive+Analysis+of+Religious+Imagery+in+Poetry&rft.creator=Tsur%2C+Reuven&rft.subject=Applied+Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Psycholinguistics&rft.description=This+paper+explores+the+cognitive+foundations+and+literary+applications+of+spatial+imagery.+Cognitively%2C+concrete+visual+images+constitute+a+bundle+of+features+and+allow+efficient+coding+of+information+for+creativity.+One+image+encoding+many+meaning+units+(an+instance+of+%22unity-in-variety%22)+saves+mental+energy--a+possible+source+of+pleasure.+The+recoding+of+information+into+spatial+imagery+may+help+the+cognitive+system+to+overcome+some+of+its+limitations.+Fast-changing+or+lowly-differentiated+information+may+be+recoded+into+a+more+stable+and+differentiated+spatial+template.+Conceptually+presented+information+may+become+less+differentiated+when+recoded+in+Gestalt-free+imagery.+The+paper+explores+how+figurative+language+turns+religious+ideas+into+verbal+imitations+of+religious+experience%2C+in+two+stylistic+modes%3A+%22Metaphysical%22+and+%22Mystic-Romantic%22.+It+also+investigates+the+problem+of+fusing+the+Biblical+conception+of+a+personal+Creator+with+the+Neo-Platonic+conception+of+creation+as+light+emanation.+Four+English+poets+and+two+medieval+poets%2C+Hebrew+and+Armenian%2C+are+compared+in+their+handling+of+light%2C+fire+and+prison+images+in+this+cognitive+mode+and+in+the+literary+modes+of+allegory%2C+symbol+and+archetypal+patterns.&rft.date=1998-08&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F742%2F1%2FLight_Fire_Prison.html&rft.identifier=++Tsur%2C+Reuven++(1998)+Light%2C+Fire%2C+Prison%3A+A+Cognitive+Analysis+of+Religious+Imagery+in+Poetry.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F742%2F