What is Imagery?
Imagery is language that stimulates a reader’s senses, i.e., touch, taste, feel, sound, and sight.
How to pronounce Imagery?
When do writers use Imagery?
Writer’s use imagery when they want the reader to focus on the concrete or physical. By using vivid descriptions to create images, the writer appeals to the reader’s senses, creating a strong, often emotional, connection between the reader and the text.
How to use Imagery
- Appeal to the senses.
- Be very specific in your descriptions.
- Be weird if you need to. Things are not as simple to describe as they once were. Don’t be afraid to use the weird to create the best sensory description.
The 7 Types of Imagery
- Visual – Appeals to sense of sight
- Auditory – Appeals reader’s sense of sound
- Tactile – Allows the reader to imagine how the object being described feels, i.e. texture, temperature, density, etc.
- Gustatory – The reader imagines s/he/they can actually taste what is being described
- Olfactory – Appeals to the reader’s sense of smell, i.e., sweet, sour, rotten, etc.
- Kinesthetic – More abstract than the 5 traditional senses, this type of imagery describes motion and allows the reader to visualize how something moves. I.e., sways, rocks, runs, strolls, briskly or slowly, etc.
Example: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
“At last, swooping at a street corner by a fountain, one of its wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud city from a number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged.”
- Organic – Even more abstract than kinesthetic imagery, organic imagery occurs when a writer uses concrete language to refer to a person’s internal feelings, i.e., emotions: jealousy, rage, sadness, etc. However, it may also be physical, such as feelings of pain, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sickness, etc.
Example: “Birches,” Robert Frost
“So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood.”
Imagery in Literature 📚
- In The Death Path, Stephen M. Irwin makes heavy-handed use of olfactory imagery to thoroughly describe the odor.
“But a smell shivered him awake.
It was a scent as old as the world. It was a hundred aromas of a thousand places. It was the tang of pine needles. It was the musk of sex. It was the muscular rot of mushrooms. It was the spice of oak. Meaty and redolent of soil and bark and herb. It was bats and husks and burrows and moss. It was solid and alive – so alive! And it was close.”
- In the following example from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the author uses both visual and tactile imagery.
Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then; a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’ clock naps, and by nightfall were like stiff teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.
- In the below passage from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury relies heavily on tactile imagery to bring the passage to life for the reader.
It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting
its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatter and charcoal ruins of history. With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black.
Imagery in Children Books 🧸
- In C.S. Lewis’, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the author makes ample use of gustatory imagery to project the sweetness of the Turkish Delight onto the reader.
“The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow, and instantly there
appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.”
- In E.B. White’s, Charlotte’s Web, the author uses visual imagery to describe how small and tiny they spiders were as they hatched:
A tiny spider crawled from the sac. It was no bigger than a grain of sand, no bigger than the head of a pin. Its body was grey with a black stripe underneath. Its legs were grey and tan.”
- In Holes, Louis Sachar uses a combination of tactile and organic imagery to describe how uncomfortable Stanley Yelnats is on the bus:
“He was on a long bus ride to nowhere. The bus wasn’t air-conditioned, and the hot, heavy air was almost as stifling as the handcuffs.”
Imagery in Songs 🎧
- “River,” Eminem and Ed Sheeran –
“Always the bridesmaid, never ‘The bride, hey!’
What can I say? If life was a highway
And deceit was an enclave, I’d be swerving in five lanes
Speeds at a high rate, like I’m slidin’ on ice, maybe
That’s why I may have came at you sideways”
- “Cardigan,” Taylor Swift –
Vintage tee, brand new phone
High heels on cobblestones
When you are young, they assume you know nothing
- “Come Together,” The Beatles –
Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly
He got joo-joo eyeball, he one holy roller
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker he just do what he please
Imagery in Poetry ✍🏽
- “October,” Louise Glück –
“Daybreak. The low hills shine
ochre and fire, even the fields shine.
I know what I see; sun that could be
the August sun, returning
everything that was taken away —”
- “Daddy,” Sylvis Plath –
“Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.”
- “Rain on a Grave,” Thomas Hardy –
“Soon will be growing
Green blades from her mound,
And daisies be showing
Like stars on the ground,
Till she form part of them –
Ay – the sweet heart of them,
Loved beyond measure
With a child’s pleasure
All her life’s round.”
Imagery in Movies and Other Visual Media 🎥
When applying imagery to film, movies, and TV, there is some conflict surrounding what this means. One could argue that imagery depicted through this medium is the responsibility of the writer. To that effect, that is the stance taken in the following explanation of imagery in the media.
By their very nature, movies, film, and TV are visual and auditory sense experiences. To create these experiences, it is the responsibility of the writer to effectively describe how to create the desired visual and auditory experience to the actor or actress through the script.
The best example of what this means applies to fight scenes. In the script, the writer must appeal to the actor or actress’ kinesthetic and auditory senses. By writing words such as, “pow,” “slap,” “thud,” “slam,” or “slap,” s/he/they know what types of movement or action are needed to visually and auditorily create the scene.
For more information, please refer to this explanatory video from The Writer’s Desk:
Related to Imagery 👥
Personification – The attribution of human or human-like characteristics to a non-human thing such as an animal or object. Personification is often used in descriptive text to create a more vivid image in the reader’s mind.
Simile – The comparison of two unrelated things using the words “like” or “as.” Writers often use similes to help them create a more vivid image in the mind of the reader.
FAQ 🤔
What is imagery in literature?
Imagery is a literary device that uses descriptive language to appeal to the reader’s senses, helping to create vivid pictures in the mind. It can involve any of the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell) and is used to enhance the emotional, physical, or thematic impact of a narrative or poem.
How does imagery enhance a text?
Imagery enhances a text by making descriptions more vivid and engaging, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the world of the narrative or poem. It evokes emotional responses and can convey complex ideas, themes, or emotions through sensory details, making the reading experience more dynamic and memorable.
Can imagery be found in both poetry and prose?
Yes, imagery can be found in both poetry and prose. In poetry, it is often used to convey emotions and create a particular mood or atmosphere. In prose, imagery can bring settings, characters, and actions to life, helping readers to visualize the scenes described and connect more deeply with the story.
Why do writers use imagery?
Writers use imagery to paint vivid pictures in the minds of their readers, to evoke sensory experiences, and to emotionally engage them. It is a powerful tool for creating atmosphere, highlighting themes, and expressing the unspoken nuances of the characters’ experiences, thoughts, and emotions.
How can I identify imagery in a text?
To identify imagery in a text, look for detailed descriptions that appeal to one or more of the five senses. These descriptions will often use figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, to compare and evoke vivid pictures or sensations related to the subjects being described.