This study is designed to investigate the relationship between the extent of visualization of poetically elicited mental images (V) and five other variables involved in response to poetry: extent of verbal interpretation of the meaning of poetry; extent of recall of poetry; accuracy of recall of poetry; extent of liking of poetry; and level of abstraction of verbal interpretation of the meaning of poetry. To this end an instrument was designed to operationalize these variables as responses to four imagistic poems. The instrument was administered to 194 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students of low, average, and high academic ability. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that V is an important variable in the more abstractive functions of poetic interpretation as well as in affective response. Further, support is lent to the theory that mental imagery can function as a symbolic agent of cognition and that this function can be enhanced with increasing clarity of visualization. (Author/LL)