IMITATION
‘Imitation’ is a universal phenomenon. It is the main source of learning. Right from
childhood till old age , we imitate others for any activity, art or skill.
Dictionaries define imitation as: a
copy of something, or the act of copying
something , or the action of using someone or something as a mode, or copying the words, facial expressions, or actions
of another person.
It is not wrong to say that sometimes imitation is
flattering, but often it is just annoying.
Some of the synonyms of imitation
are: artificial, mimicry, mockery, caricature, aping, impersonation,
reproduction, counterfeit, forgery, fake, artificial, sham, pseudo, phoney,
simulated , man-made, etc.
In literature, where an idea has
been represented as a piece of art, and
that piece of art , like a painting, has
been re-expressed as a literary form, the act that has taken place is : imitation of
imitation, twice removed from reality.
The English orator and statesman Edmund Burke (1729-97) says it is by
intimation, far more than by precept, that we learn everything; and what we
learn thus, we acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly.---This
forms our manners, our opinions , our lives.
The Swiss theologian John Caspar (1741-1801)
believes that it is a poor wit who lives by borrowing the words, decisions,
mien, inventions, and actions of others.
According to the Swiss theologian Alexander
R.Vinet (1797-1847} “Imitation causes us to leave natural ways to enter into
artificial ones; it therefore makes slaves. “
Finally, a fulsome quote on the
subject:
“By three
methods we may learn wisdom: Fist, by reflection, which is noblest; second by
imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
It is better to fall in originality than to succeed in imitation. All art is but
imitation of nature.”
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G.R.Kanwal
11 September 2024
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