Imagery is the use of language to create “mental pictures” in one’s mind through descriptions and “sensory perceptions” (Wheeler). In“Digging,” Heaney establishes the setting of the poem by describing that he is in what seems to be a room with a window that overlooks an area of green. He starts the poem off with “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. / Under my window, a clean rasping sound / When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: / My father, digging. I look down” (“Digging”). He uses the appeals to sound, as in “a clean rasping sound” and “the spade sinks into gravelly ground,” as well as appeals to sight, “I look down,” and appeals to touch, “[b]etween my finger and my thumb,” to create an image in the reader’s mind of what that day, or perhaps thought, looked like. The image that is created is one that shows contrast, in this case between an unidentified narrator and his father. As the poem continues, Heaney describes “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them. / Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests. / I’ll dig with it.” The contrast that this furthers is the idea that the narrator is very different from his father, creating a divide that can be the start of tension. Because the narrator and his father cannot necessarily understand each other due to these differences, as each chooses his different approach to digging, the narrator seems to understand that not much can be done about the father’s choice to remain a
"He had…split purple lips, lumped ears, welts above his yellow eyes, and one long scar that cut across his temple and plowed through a thick canopy of kinky hair…" Imagery is very effectively used by Knight in order to illustrate Hard Rock and incidents in the poem. Phrases such as "bored a hole in his head," "handcuffed and chained," "the jewel of a myth," and "barked in his face," paint vivid images in the readers mind. Knight's use of imagery keeps the reader interested in the poem while slowly drawing the reader into the story (emotionally). This element ultimately proves to be very useful to convey the motif of the poem.
The imagery used in this verse appeals to the sense sight. This helps the reader visualise what the writer is taking about. It also allows the reader to relate and connect more to the poem.
Imagery is a common form of technique used in poetry in which the author uses visualization to demonstrate a vivid scene for the readers. In the poem, “Digging”, he discusses his father’s aging figure and recreates the feeling of the passage of time by mentioning his grandfather digging in a similar fashion. When Heaney says, “Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds; Bends low, comes up twenty years away”, he is most likely referring to a past memory of his father, indicating he has passed away twenty years ago. Heaney vividly remembers his father digging, and compares his father’s digging to his own penmanship when he says at the beginning of the poem, “Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.”, and at the end of the poem when he says, “Between my
Imagery allows the reader to hear and connect to the story by using onomatopoeia and see what is happening in the poem.
As evident by the title of this poem, imagery is a strong technique used in this poem as the author describes with great detail his journey through a sawmill town. This technique is used most in the following phrases: “...down a tilting road, into a distant valley.” And “The sawmill towns, bare hamlets built of boards with perhaps a store”. This has the effect of creating an image in the reader’s mind and making the poem even more real.
Orr uses imagery to show the reader that events can mentally scar one’s memory, in which a person vividly remembers that moment perfectly. To do this Orr uses lots of descriptive words and phrases that bring the reader to visualize the scene of the poem. An example is, "the dark stain already seeping across his parka hood"(2). The speaker has this image implanted in his mind, because it is the first thing that he sees right after he has shot his brother. As one reads this line, they can picture the image of blood seeping through the material of the hood in their mind, making them feel as if they are standing there with him. In addition, Orr uses the imagery of death throughout the poem. By writing, “In the bowl, among the vegetable chunks / pale shapes of the alphabet bobbed at random or lay in the shallow spoon” (15-17). The speaker is visualizing the pale deceased
In the novella Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto uses light and dark imagery to develop realistic characterization and to support her fantastical style, while effectively projecting pathos upon the readers. Throughout the story, Mikage unveils that life is a process of healing where grief and sadness are needed to truly appreciate happiness. Such abstract ideas and emotions are detailedly brought about by Yoshimoto’s usage of the four seasons of the year to provide a main timeline of the events concerning Mikage’s encounters with death, as well utilizing cosmos as a form of pathetic fallacy during the more miniscule experiences. In the grand scheme of the story, there
Discuss the use of imagery in two stories of your choice. How do the various images work in a particular story to bring its subject matter into focus? Is there a central image? And how does this enhance or confuse or complicate the effect of the story?
The imagery in this story adds detail and depth to the story by creating a vivid image in the reader’s mind. For example, “...when the sky was a robin’s-egg blue and the wind as soft as a day-old chick,” which puts a clear picture of the sky and the feel of the wind through that imagery. Another example of this is, “...the baseball park lingered--swimming, swaying, seeming to be made of red steam, though perhaps it was only the sunset.” This puts an image of the look of the baseball field along with, “Now it grows parrot-green, cool as mint, soft as moss, lying there like a cashmere blanket.” These imagery examples deepens the image of the story, however, it does add a lot of length to the story.
By using imagery, we are able to understand and experience the details in the poem better. For example, the speaker states, “We passed the School where Children strove/ At Recess ‒ in the Ring.” This represents one’s youth. By depicting an image of children playing at recess, we are reminded of our childhood and how lively and carefree we were.
The poem is also, connected with sensory language such as, “with a palm caked hard by dirt.” This has an effect in the poem because it makes readers feel what the author is describing. In conclusion, imagery drives the readers
It involves the use of literary forms – like metaphors, allusions, similes, descriptive words etc. -- to awaken the reader’s perception so it can respond to what the poet writes. Therefore, the imagery used in this poem helps to describe Prufrock, his emotions, the tone of the
To begin, the use of imagery helps the readers create pictures that engage their senses to produce and emotional response. The first instance of imagery is in the second stanza of the poem. It tells of how the speaker and Annabel were only children when they fell in love, but he loved her more than anything thing. The speaker says: I was a child and she was a child,
The use of imagery allows for the readers to engage more into the poem and also feel the message being passed on by the poet. "As under a green sea, I saw him drowning”. Another technique is also metaphors; the use of metaphors adds more interest and understanding of the message being conveyed. “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod.”
as if this act of touching for a second time sparks off a series of