抄録
The purpose of this paper is to make clear the aesthetic thoughts of Poe and Baudelaire from the viewpoint of the imagination theory. Through this examination, we can find that their thoughts showed the peculiar views against the imitation theory in those days. Poe and Baudelaire consider that imagination has two functions : the first function is to find unexpected analogies among some ideas or things, and the second is, by the combination of these analogous ideas or things, to produce something novel and beautiful that is similar to the vision in the delirium. They insist that, by exertion of this imagination, artists should transform the composition of natural things. While Poe and Baudelaire take a similar view in these regards, we can also point out some distinctions between their imagination theories. What the distinctions may be, it is noteworthy that their imagination theories furnished arguments against the traditional imitation theory.
