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Literary Devices
Definition and Examples of Literary Terms

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 * Full List of Literary Devices
 * Grammatical Terms
 * Poem Analysis
 * Book Literary Analysis
 * Phrase Analysis
 * What are Literary Devices
 * Literary Resources
 * Citation


IMAGERY




DEFINITION OF IMAGERY

Imagery is a literary device that refers to the use of figurative language to
evoke a sensory experience or create a picture with words for a reader. By
utilizing effective descriptive language and figures of speech, writers appeal
to a reader’s senses of sight, taste, smell, touch, and sound, as well as
internal emotion and feelings. Therefore, imagery is not limited to visual
representations or mental images, but also includes physical sensations and
internal emotions.



For example, in his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes
imagery as a literary device to create a sensation for the reader as a means of
understanding the love felt by the protagonist, Hester Prynne.

> Love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always
> create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon
> the outward world.

By using descriptive language in an effective and unique way, Hawthorne evokes
feelings and allows the reader an internal emotional response in reaction to his
description of love. This image is especially poignant and effective for readers
of this novel since Hester’s love, in the story, results in darkness, shame, and
isolation–the opposite of sunshine and radiance. However, Hawthorne’s imagery
appeals to the reader’s understanding of love and subsequent empathy for
Hester’s emotions and actions, despite her transgression of societal norms,
morals, and laws.


COMMON EXAMPLES OF IMAGERY IN EVERYDAY SPEECH



People frequently use imagery as a means of communicating feelings, thoughts,
and ideas through descriptive language. Here are some common examples of imagery
in everyday speech:

 * The autumn leaves are a blanket on the ground.
 * Her lips tasted as sweet as sugar.
 * His words felt like a dagger in my heart.
 * My head is pounding like a drum.
 * The kitten’s fur is milky.
 * The siren turned into a whisper as it ended.
 * His coat felt like a velvet curtain.
 * The houses look like frosted cakes in winter.
 * The light under the door looked buttery.
 * I came inside because the house smells like a chocolate brownie.


TYPES OF POETIC IMAGERY



For poetic imagery, there are seven primary types. These types of imagery often
feature figures of speech such as similes and metaphors to make comparisons.
Overall, poetic imagery provides sensory details to create clear and vibrant
descriptions. This appeals to a reader’s imagination and emotions as well as
their senses.

Here are the main types of poetic imagery:

 * Visual: appeals to the sense of sight through the description of color,
   light, size, pattern, etc.
 * Auditory: appeals to the sense of hearing or sound by including melodic
   sounds, silence, harsh noises, and even onomatopoeia.
 * Gustatory: appeals to the sense of taste by describing whether something is
   sweet, salty, savory, spicy, or sour.
 * Tactile: appeals to the sense of touch by describing how something physically
   feels, such as its temperature, texture, or other sensation.
 * Olfactory: appeals to the sense of smell by describing something’s fragrance
   or odor.
 * Kinesthetic: appeals to a reader’s sense of motion or movement through
   describing the sensations of moving or the movements of an object.
 * Organic: appeals to and communicates internal sensations, feelings, and
   emotions, such as fatigue, thirst, fear, love, loneliness, despair, etc.


FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF IMAGERY IN SHAKESPEAREAN WORKS



Writers use imagery to create pictures in the minds of readers, often with words
and phrases that are uniquely descriptive and emotionally charged to emphasize
an idea. William Shakespeare’s works feature imagery as a literary device for
readers and audiences as a means to enhance their experience of his plays.
Shakespeare’s artistic use of language and imagery is considered to be some of
the greatest in literature.

Here are some famous examples of imagery in Shakespearean works:

 * “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep.” Romeo and Juliet
 * “There’s daggers in men’s smiles.” Macbeth
 * “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
   Men were deceivers ever,-
   One foot in sea and one on shore,
   To one thing constant never.” Much Ado About Nothing
 * “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” The Taming of the Shrew
 * “Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy
   rest.” Hamlet
 * “Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
   Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
   More than cool reason ever comprehends.” A Midsummer Night’s Dream
 * “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with
   a sleep.” The Tempest
 * “And thus I clothe my naked villainy
   With odd old ends stol’n out of holy writ;
   And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.” Richard III
 * “By heaven, me thinks it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the
   pale-faced moon” Henry IV
 * “If music be the food of love, play on,
   Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
   The appetite may sicken, and so die.” Twelfth Night


WRITING IMAGERY



Writers use imagery to evoke emotion in readers. In this way, the reader’s
understanding of the poetic subject, setting, plot, characters, etc., is
deepened and they have a sense of how to feel about it. Ideally, as a literary
device, imagery should enhance a literary work. Unfortunately, some writers try
to use this literary device too often, which can lessen the impact of the
description and figurative language.

For imagery to be effective and significant, whether, in poetry or a story, it
should add depth and meaning to the literary work. Overuse of imagery can feel
tedious for readers and limit their access to and understanding of the writer’s
purpose. Therefore, it’s essential for writers to balance presenting information
in a straightforward manner and using imagery as a literary device.


DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LITERAL IMAGERY AND FIGURATIVE IMAGERY



There is a slight difference in literal and figurative imagery. Literal imagery,
as the name applies, is near in meanings and almost the same thing or exactly
what the description says. For example, color like the red rose implies the same
thing. However, in figurative imagery, a thing is often not what it implies.
There is often the use of hyperbole, simile, or metaphors that construct an
image that could be different from the actual thing or person. For example, his
cries moved the sky is not an example of literal imagery but of figurative
imagery as the skies do not move with cries.


TIPS TO ANALYZE IMAGERY



Analysis of imagery is often done in poetry and short stories. However, imagery
is present in every literary work where description becomes of some
significance. Whenever there is a description in a literary work, a reader first
analyses different figures of speech such as metaphors, similes,
personifications, images, and hyperbole, etc. There are four major steps in
analyzing imagery in a specific description.

 1. Identify the type of figures of speech, types of images, and their roles in
    the description.
 2. Compare and contrast the types of images and their accuracy in the
    description.
 3. Compare and contrast the role of the specific figures of speech, their
    meanings, their roles, and their end product.
 4. Critique the description and see how it demonstrates its actual meanings in
    the context and setting.


USE OF IMAGERY IN SENTENCES

 1. Iwan’s sweaty gym clothes left a stale odor in the locker room; so they had
    to keep the windows open.
 2. The tasty, salty broth soothed her sore throat as Simran ate the warm soup.
 3. Glittering white, the blanket of snow-covered everything in sight and also
    blocked the street.
 4. The tree bark was rough against the deer’s skin but it did satisfy its itch.
 5. Kids could hear the popping and crackling as their mom dropped the bacon
    into the frying pan, and soon the salty, greasy smell wafted toward me.


EXAMPLES OF IMAGERY IN LITERATURE

Though imagery is often associated with poetry, it is an effective literary
device in all forms of writing. Writers utilize imagery as a means of
communicating their thoughts and perceptions on a deeper and more memorable
level with readers. Imagery helps a reader formulate a visual picture and
sensory impression of what the writer is describing as well as the emotions
attached to the description. In addition, imagery is a means of showcasing a
writer’s mastery of artistic and figurative language, which also enhances the
meaning and enjoyment of a literary work for a reader.

Here are some examples of imagery in literature:


EXAMPLE 1: GOBLIN MARKET (CHRISTINA ROSSETTI)

> Early in the morning
> When the first cock crow’d his warning,
> Neat like bees, as sweet and busy,
> Laura rose with Lizzie:
> Fetch’d in honey, milk’d the cows,
> Air’d and set to rights the house,
> Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat,
> Cakes for dainty mouths to eat,
> Next churn’d butter, whipp’d up cream,
> Fed their poultry, sat and sew’d;
> Talk’d as modest maidens should:
> Lizzie with an open heart,
> Laura in an absent dream,
> One content, one sick in part;
> One warbling for the mere bright day’s delight,
> One longing for the night.

In this passage of her poem, Rossetti uses all forms of poetic imagery to appeal
to the reader’s physical senses as well as their experience of motion and
internal emotions. The reader can visualize the actions taking place in the poem
along with a sense of orderly movement paired with disordered emotion. As the
sisters Lizzie and Laura go about their maidenly and pastoral tasks, the poet’s
description of their divergent mindsets and feelings creates an imagery of the
tension between darkness and light, innocence and temptation. These contrasting
images evoke unsettled and contradictory feelings for the reader, undermining
the appearance of the sisters’ idyllic lives with a sense of foreboding.


EXAMPLE 2: THE YELLOW WALLPAPER (CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN)



> The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow,
> strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.
> It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.
> No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in
> this room long.

In this passage of Gilman’s short story, the narrator uses poetic imagery to
describe the yellow wallpaper which eventually ensnares her mind and body. The
narrator’s imagery effectively appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, smell,
and touch so that the reader is as repulsed by the wallpaper as the story’s
protagonist. By utilizing imagery as a literary device, Gilman is able to evoke
the same feelings of sickness, despair, fear, claustrophobia, etc., for the
reader as she does for the narrator. In addition to this emotional effect, the
artistic language used to describe the yellow wallpaper also enhances its
symbolic presence in the story.


EXAMPLE 3: THE RED WHEELBARROW (WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS)



> so much depends
> upon
> 
> a red wheel
> barrow
> 
> glazed with rain
> water
> 
> beside the white
> chickens

This poem by William Carlos Williams features imagery and, in fact, is an
example of Imagist poetry. Imagism was a poetic movement of the early twentieth
century that veered away from the heavy description that was characteristic of
Romantic and Victorian poems. Instead, the purpose of Imagism was to create an
accurate image or presentation of a subject that would be visually concrete for
the reader. Imagist poets achieved this through succinct, direct, and specific
language, favoring precise phrasing over set poetic meter.

In Williams’s poem, the poet uses simple language and clear expression to create
imagery for the reader of a red wheelbarrow, lending beauty, and symbolism to an
ordinary object. By describing the wheelbarrow with sparse but precise language,
the reader can picture an exact visual image of what the poet is trying to
convey which, in turn, evokes an emotional response to the image. This imagery
enhances the meaning of the poem’s phrasing such that each word becomes
essential, and the poem and its imagery are nearly indistinguishable.


SYNONYMS OF IMAGERY

Imagery has several synonyms with slightly different meanings. They are
imagination, picturing, mental imagery, vision, imaging, and dreaming are almost
near in meanings but evocation, chimera, pretense, and mind’s eyes.

RELATED POSTS:

 * Auditory Imagery
 * Visual Imagery
 * Gustatory Imagery
 * Tactile Imagery
 * Olfactory Imagery
 * Kinesthetic Imagery
 * Examples of Imagery in Poetry






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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

 1. Auditory Imagery
 2. Visual Imagery
 3. Gustatory Imagery
 4. Tactile Imagery
 5. Olfactory Imagery
 6. Kinesthetic Imagery
 7. Examples of Imagery in Poetry

POPULAR LITERARY DEVICES

View Full List of Literary Devices
 * Ad Hominem
 * Adage
 * Allegory
 * Alliteration
 * Allusion
 * Ambiguity
 * Anachronism
 * Anagram
 * Analogy
 * Anapest
 * Anaphora
 * Anecdote
 * Antagonist
 * Antecedent
 * Antimetabole
 * Antithesis
 * Aphorism
 * Aposiopesis
 * Apostrophe
 * Archaism
 * Archetype
 * Argument
 * Assonance
 * Biography
 * Cacophony
 * Cadence
 * Caricature
 * Catharsis
 * Characterization
 * Cliché
 * Climax
 * Colloquialism
 * Comparison
 * Conflict
 * Connotation
 * Consonance
 * Denotation
 * Deus Ex Machina
 * Dialect
 * Dialogue
 * Diction
 * Didacticism
 * Discourse
 * Doppelganger
 * Double Entendre
 * Ellipsis
 * Epiphany
 * Epitaph
 * Essay
 * Ethos
 * Eulogy
 * Euphemism
 * Evidence
 * Exposition
 * Fable
 * Fallacy
 * Flash Forward
 * Foil
 * Foreshadowing
 * Foreword
 * Genre
 * Haiku
 * Half Rhyme
 * Homage
 * Hubris
 * Hyperbaton
 * Hyperbole
 * Idiom
 * Imagery
 * Induction
 * Inference
 * Innuendo
 * Internal Rhyme
 * Irony
 * Jargon
 * Juxtaposition
 * Limerick
 * Line Break
 * Logos
 * Meiosis
 * Memoir
 * Metaphor
 * Meter
 * Montage
 * Mood
 * Motif
 * Motto
 * Narrative
 * Nemesis
 * Non Sequitur
 * Ode
 * Onomatopoeia
 * Oxymoron
 * Palindrome
 * Parable
 * Paradox
 * Parallelism
 * Parataxis
 * Parody
 * Pathetic Fallacy
 * Pathos
 * Pentameter
 * Persona
 * Personification
 * Plot
 * Plot Twist
 * Poem
 * Poetic Justice
 * Point of View
 * Portmanteau
 * Propaganda
 * Prose
 * Protagonist
 * Pun
 * Red Herring
 * Repetition
 * Rhetoric
 * Rhyme
 * Rhythm
 * Sarcasm
 * Satire
 * Simile
 * Soliloquy
 * Sonnet
 * Style
 * Subtext
 * Superlative
 * Syllogism
 * Symbolism
 * Synecdoche
 * Synesthesia
 * Synonym
 * Syntax
 * Tautology
 * Theme
 * Thesis
 * Tone
 * Tragedy
 * Tragicomedy
 * Tragic Flaw
 * Transition
 * Utopia
 * Verisimilitude


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