 Some of what has not been excluded by the first law of imaginative metamorphosis can then become the focus of special attention. According to Dilthey’s second law of imaginative metamorphosis “Images are transformed when they expand or contract, when the intensity of the sensations of which they are composed is increased or decreased” (1887/SW.V, 102). Such a change in intensity can apply to either the reproductive imagination of ordinary memory or the productive imagination of poets or novelists. In the former case of memory an increase of intensity tends to be as much a function of a present practical interest as of acquired experience. In the latter case of the imagination of poets an increase of intensity is more likely to be primarily regulated by their overall acquired psychic nexus. What distinguishes the imagination of great poets according to Dilthey is their capacity to ignore the constant distractions and mundane interests of daily life. Only they can unfold imagery in a way that reflects our overall human values.