Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia is an artistic device consisting in the combination in a single image of sensations of different sense organs, when a phenomenon of one sensory range is described through the categories of another: "a green hymn" (Tychyna), "a warm sound," "sweet silence," "a sharp glance." Synaesthesia rests on the real psychophysiological capacity of the human being for the mutual transition of sensory impressions and belongs to the special varieties of metaphorical transfer. In poetry it creates complex, multidimensional images that convey the integrity and syncretism of the sensory perception of the world. Synaesthesia is especially characteristic of the aesthetics of Symbolism and Impressionism with their cult of refined sensations; brilliant synaesthetic images were created by Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, and in Ukrainian poetry by Pavlo Tychyna with his "music of colour." Synaesthesia is an important subject of poetics and the psychology of artistic creativity.