Poetics of Space Chapter 7 "miniature"

To talk about miniature things in literature is hard to do in a serious tone.  When things are tiny they are hard to be seen as something that could actually exist - especially if it is a house or some other space.  To be able to take miniature illusions seriously we have to let go of our skepticism and cynical realities and allow ourselves to imagine.  Bachelard says that the miniature things remind us of childhood toys and we can make the small imaginary things reality by relating them to the reality of our toys.  Even when things are miniature, once inside a space the interior becomes larger than it really is.  It is very interesting how he points out that a botanist focuses on miniature things like flowers.  They are objective in their description of the flower in telling the shape, color, texture, etc. of the flower.  But when the description of the flower begins to take a shape that gives mental images of real things like soldiers standing at attention and children in a hammock, the botanist is thinking psychologically and using their imagination.