Defining+Imagery


 * //__Imagery--__//****A concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea an author/playwright/poet might use to appeal to one or more of our senses. Imagery evokes a specific atmosphere, mood, or tension.**


 * __Tactile imagery--sense of touch.__**

EX: Lines 21-22: “My instep arch not only keeps the ache, It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.”
 * Frost: After Apple-Picking**

By using the phrases such as “keeps the ache” and “keeps the pressure”, Frost succeeds in recreating the sensation that the speaker feels at that moment. The reader relates to the speaker, as the words “ache” and “pressure” remind the reader of a sense of feeling he or she surely has also experienced in the past.

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 * Shakespeare: //Hamlet- Prince of Denmark//**

As the ghost describes King Hamlet’s death, the juxtaposition of the words “crust” and “smooth” strongly pull the audience, as they can not only visualize the contrasting texture, but also reflect upon the contrasting feel of the two. Combining these two sensations successfully enhances the sense of repulsion the ghost expresses about the poison’s effect on King Hamlet’s body.


 * __Olfactory imagery--sense of smell.__**

EX: Lines 22-23 “And freshen in this air of withering sweetness;”
 * Frost: Afield at Dusk**

Frost relies on the speaker having a specific reaction to the words “freshen” in relation to air, and “withering” in relation to sweetness. There are specific connotations that are commonly associated with these two analogies: “freshen” reminds the reader of crisp, clear air, but that seems an unnatural combination with the “withering” sort of sweetness, as “withering” brings forth images of something going to waste, something losing it’s crisp- and cleanliness.

Act 2, Scene2 ”
 * Shakespeare: //Hamlet- Prince of Denmark//**

Hamlet stands in the grand audience hall at Elsinore and describes his mood after his father’s death. By using the words “foul and pestilent congregation of vapours” to describe the air outside, Hamlet is making a statement about how his view of nature seems to have changed because of his depressed mood: everything seems rotten to him. The audience senses that not only because of the overall impact of the passage, but specifically relates their understanding of “foul and pestilent… vapours”.


 * __Gustatory imagery--sense of taste.__**

EX: “Out in the plowed ground in the cold a digger, Among unearthed potatoes standing still, Was counting winter dinners, one a hill,”
 * Frost: The Investment**

A man counts the numbers of potatoes he has, each which stands for one dinner. Here “winter dinners” relays the gustatory image of a meager meal, one without much savory flavor, and enough to last through the cold season. The reader, relating to his or her own experiences of that cold season, knows to read “winter dinners” that way, especially since Frost chooses to use potatoes, a very bland source of carbohydrates that is associated with the most basic of farm produce.

Act 2, Scene 2 (Line 13) Kent: “A knave. A rascal, an eater of broken meats, …”
 * Shakespeare’s //King Lear//**

Kent attempts to pick a fight with Oswald, and begins by calling him names. The gustatory image of “broken meats” (the leftovers of a meal) in particular strikes a chord amongst the audience, as someone who eats what is unappetizing and reserved to those of a lower status is surely looked down upon.