LITERARY ELEMENTS: IMAGERY by

LITERARY ELEMENTS: IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:14:20 UTC

Types of Imagery

Authors create images that appeal to the human senses, such as sight, feel, touch, smell, hear. These are called visual imagery, auditory, gustatory, tactile, olfactory, and kinesthetic.

VISUAL IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:24:36 UTC

Visual imagery is a form of literary imagery which uses different visual and descriptive elements that appeal to the readers' sense of sight. It includes different shapes, colors, and patterns. The creative use of visual imagery makes the readers see and imagine the setting, the scenarios such as the size of the castle, the vastness of the field, the greeneries, the beautiful sunset, the muddy roads, etc.

EXAMPLE

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (William Wordsworth)

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

AUDITORY IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:29:51 UTC

Through the use of auditory imagery, the readers hear the sounds that the author wants to convey. The use of music, the silence or harsh noise, the pleasant sounds are used for the literary piece to appeal to the readers' senses. The author may use onomatopoeia to mimic the sounds of nature.

EXAMPLE

To Autumn

(John Keats)

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of the, thou hast thy music too, While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river shallows, borne aloft

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 red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

GASTATORY IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:38:47 UTC

Gustatory Imagery is poetic imagery that seeks the readers to savor the taste such as the sourness, the saltiness, the sweetness, the spiciness of the described images.

EXAMPLE

This Is Just To Say

(William Carlos William)

I have eaten the plums

That were in the icebox

And which you were probably saving

For breakfast

Forgive me

They were delicious

So sweet

And so cold.

TACTILE IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:40:22 UTC

Tactile imagery describes what the readers touch or feel when reading. Tactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch of the readers. These include temperature such as "the bitter cold" or "the stifling heat." It also involves the use of texture, such as "the rough surface" or "the soft hands."

EXAMPLE

To Autumn

(John Keats)

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For summer has o'er-brimm'd they clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or in a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep

OLFACTORY IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:41:53 UTC

Olfactory imagery is the use of poetic imagery to allow the readers to smell. It includes the use of fragrances such as the smell of a blooming flower, or the orders of a rotting corpse, or the stink of a wet dog.

EXAMPLE

Rain (H.W. Longfellow)

They silently inhale

The cover-scented gale,

And the vapors that arise

From the well-watered smoking soil.

KINESTHETIC IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:43:18 UTC

Kinesthetic imagery is the use of imagery to allow the reader to feel the sense of motion. It includes the sensation caused by the sudden jolt of a stopping a vehicle or the use of sudden movements. Kinesthetic imagery is the cognitive creation of a sense of movement that makes the readers feel the physical motion when reading.

EXAMPLE

I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud

(W. Wordsworth)

Continuous as the stars the shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

Along the margin of a bay;

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in springhtly dance.

ORGANIC IMAGERY

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:44:21 UTC

Organic imagery is the poetic use of words or expressions that make the reader feel and experience different emotions. Using organic imagery, authors can communicate internal sensations to the readers. These include the sense of hunger and thirst, love and hate or fear, the despair, the hopelessness or pain.

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 consideration,

And life is too much like a pathless wood.

opalecmaylody — 2024-12-22 13:44:38 UTC

Ultimately, the use of imagery allows children to see the images described by the authors and poets. This will help them activate their imagination and creativity and develop their grasp of the content of the literature.