Imagery

Imagery
Definition of Imagery
     Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.
     Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word “imagery” is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture.

Short Examples of Imagery
1. The old man took the handful of dust, and sifted it through his fingers.
2. The starry night sky looked so beautiful that it begged him to linger, but he reluctantly left for home.
3. The fragrance of spring flowers made her joyful.
4. The sound of a drum in the distance attracted him.
5. The people traveled long distances to watch the sunset in the north.

Imagery Examples in Literature
     Example #1: Romeo and Juliet (By William Shakespeare)
Imagery of light and darkness is repeated many times in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . Consider an example from Act I, Scene V:
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear …”
Romeo praises Juliet by saying that she appears more radiant than the brightly lit torches in the hall. He says that at night her face glows like a bright jewel shining against the dark skin of an African. Through the contrasting images of light and dark, Romeo portrays Juliet’s beauty                        

       Example #2: To Autumn (By John Keats)
John Keats’ To Autumn is an ode rich with auditory imagery examples. In the last five lines of his ode he says:
“Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.”
The animal sounds in the above excerpt keep appealing to our sense of hearing. We hear the lamb bleating and the crickets chirping. We hear the whistles of the redbreast robin and the twitters of swallows in the skies. Keats call these sounds the song of autumn.

Function of Imagery

     The function of imagery in literature is to generate a vibrant and graphic presentation of a scene that appeals to as many of the reader’s senses as possible. It aids the reader’s imagination to envision the characters and scenes in the literary piece clearly. Apart from the above-mentioned function, images drawn by using figures of speech like metaphor, simile, personification, and onomatopoeia, serve the function of beautifying a piece of literature.

Sources:
https://literarydevices.net/imagery/