Read the following excerpt from the poem “On Imagination” by Phillis Wheatley. Imagination! who can sing thy force? Or who descr
ibe the swiftness of thy course? Soaring through air to find the bright abode, Th' empyreal palace of the thund'ring God, We on thy pinions can surpass the wind, And leave the rolling universe behind: From star to star the mental optics rove, Measure the skies, and range the realms above. There in one view we grasp the mighty whole, Or with new worlds amaze th' unbounded soul. What does the speaker compare imagination to in the poem? a soaring bird, the sky a cloud, or a sailing ship
Wheatley compares imagination to an object that is 'soaring through air to find the bright abode', and has 'pinions that can surpass the wind'. A pinion is a part of a bird's wings, and a bird is an animal that flies in the air.
The speaker compares imagination to a soaring bird.
