Poets try to think of new images. But it does not matter whether the image be new or old-what matters is that it be true. Poets who think that by producing farfetched images they are changing our consciousness are doing nothing of the kind. One comes to expect the unexpected.
As the painter Magritte points out, everyone is familiar with the bird in a cage. Anyone can visualize a fish in a cage, or a shoe. But these images, though they are curious, are, unfortunately, arbitrary and accidental. If you wish to surprise, alarm, and alert the reader on the deeper levels of consciousness, visualize a large egg in the cage