Imagery is utilized in literature to appeal to the reader’s senses and to paint a picture in their imagination. Poets use the images they create to help the reader interpret their writing. For instance, in Psalm 104 descriptive language is used throughout to praise the beauty of earth as god created. The poem opens by praising the greatness of the lord and continues into: “Who coverest thyself with as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain / Who layeth the beams of his chambers into the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot” (Lines 2-3). In these lines the poet is explaining how god created the natural world. The reader can visually picture god creating the heavens, in their vastness, just as if he were shaking out a curtain. Attempting to picture the creation of heaven can be difficult, however, the author uses a simile to help readers develop a clear picture. …show more content…
For example, in Sappho’s poem number 94, her use of imagery allows the reader to experience the speaker’s loss of their lover in lines 1-5:
“I simply want to be dead.
Weeping she left me
with so many tears and said this:
Oh how badly things have turned out for us.
Sappho, I swear, against my will I leave you.”
The poem is written as a conversation between Sappho and a woman who is leaving her, probably to marry another. The reader can relate and feel Sappho’s heartbreak and relate to her agony. There is also a sense of fondness between the two women as the discuss the time they shared together (lines 10-20).
“Boat of Cypress,” contained in the Classic of Poetry, also utilized imagery to allow the reader to relate to the speaker of the poem.
“The Boat of cypress drifts along, it drifts upon the steam.
Restless am I, I cannot sleep,
As though in torment and troubled.
Not am I lacking wine
To ease my mind and let me
In the story “Oranges”, by Gary Soto, imagery helps develop a theme by giving you the ability to painting a picture in your head, which creates the theme of love. For example, “[I] asked what she wanted- Light in her eyes, a smile Starting at the corners Of her mouth”(Soto,1), shows that he was able to make her really happy just because he had asked her what she wanted from the candy aisle. The Author is creating a picture for us by talking about his first love that he had had, using the sensory details to describe it and show us how the mood of the memory helped create this past moment. Another example being “I peeled my oranges that was so bright against the gray of december that, from some distance, someone might have thought I was
To continue In the novel “night” by ELIE WIESEL and the poem “SEE IT THROUGH” by Edgar Guest. the two authors use imagery is different because in the imagery in the poem is uplifting and the book is not it is love for example the poem says “lift your chin set your shoulders plant your feet and take a brace” but in the book the imagery is “I took his hand and kissed it” that is how the two authors use two different types of imagery.
Sappho’s poem, entitled Fragment 16, is of the lyrical style instead of the epic style we are used to in Homer’s Iliad. The lyrical style of poetry got its name because it was usually accompanied by a lyre while it was recited. It also was used to express more emotion rather than telling a story. This form of poetry seems to be more artistic rather than the story telling of epic poetry of the time. In this poem we are able to use the comparison of different imagery to understand a common theme within the poem itself. The reason for the interesting title of the poem is because most of Sappho’s poetry is now only found in fragmented forms. Most of Sappho’s writing is from 600 B.C.E.
First and foremost, Willa Cather and Mary Austin both employ beautiful imagery in their writings to recreate the landscape of the story they are telling, which heightens the understanding and appreciation for their writings. Their use of imagery is specific to appealing to their audience’s visual senses. In My Antonia, for example, Willa Cather describes the landscape at a particular moment by saying, “One afternoon we were having our reading lessons on the warm, grassy bank where the badger lived. It was a day of amber sunlight, but there was a shiver of coming winter in the air. I had seen ice on the little horsepond that morning, and as we went through the garden we found tall asparagus, with its red berries, lying on the ground, a mass of slimy green” (Cather 29). My Antonia has these descriptive passages throughout it, which enables the reader to feel part of the book. Likewise, Mary Austin’s The Land of Little Rain also utilizes imagery: Mary Austin says, “the mountains are steep and the rains are heavy, the pool is
He uses the words “tears” and “distress” to detail the way a hopeless person looks. Furthermore he also describes the procession as “Heavy” giving the readers a grasp on the burden of this procession. Similarly in “A Walk on the Long Stone Serpent” the author uses imagery when he states “I closed my eyes and tried to visualize those men and women who had carried the very stones I was now seeing in the wall. I pictured thousands of
The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the
For example, “... did nothing to block the blinding light and searing heat beating down from above. He opened his mouth… and a raw plume of dry warmth shot down his throat, seeming to obliterate any air or moisture in its path.” (94). This displays imagery because it describes how it made Thomas feel. The reader can imagine how bright and how dry it was. Additionally, “It was a wasteland. In front of him, a flat pan of dry and lifeless earth stretched as far as he could see. Not a single tree. Not a bush. No hills or valleys. Just an orange-yellow seat of dust and rocks; wavering currents of heated air boiled on the horizon like steam, floating upward, as if any life out there were melting toward the cloudless and pale blue sky.” (95). This exhibits imagery by describing what the land looked like. It puts a picture in the reader’s mind. To sum up, the imagery in this novel helped understand what the characters
Sappho 96 is a poem that explores the beauty of love in the context of heartbreak and abandonment. The mood of the poem is almost wistful as Sappho seems to be clearly saddened by her lover, Anaktoria, leaving her; however, in true Sappho fashion, she can maintain the beauty she sees in her lover. The filled in lines serve to enhance the feelings of melancholy and passivity while giving the reader a deeper insight to the love Sappho has for Anaktoria.
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.
Pain can be expressed in both sorrow and anger. Sappho creates great imagery in this fragmented poem by taking pain into natural moving actions. She expresses how her feelings change from hurt to anger and how heavy pain can really be. Sappho uses physical movement to express her emotions in different directions. She also emphasizes how she sees revenge is the ultimate goal in order to recover from that pain.
Throughout history, authors have used poetry as a way to express themselves and how they think or feel in an artistic way. There have been poems written about almost every feeling a person has ever had which is why poetry is so popular, because it describes feelings in a way many people cannot. In present day, people from all around the world look back at old poetry and try to define the true meanings behind poems using literally elements and context clues to aid them, this is known as explication. The writing named “Boat of Cypress” is a famous poem written long ago by an unknown author, and composed about a woman full of misery and despair from her personal point of view. Throughout this poem, the readers
Imagery is used by many writers and this is when the writer uses visually descriptive or figurative language.
One example of imagery in the text is the sense sound. The author used the sense of sound to create imagery so that the reader can imagine what is going on. The author reports, "He knew his pursuer was coming; He heard the padding sound of feet on the soft earth." This is an example of imagery because Rainsford described what he heard so that the reader could imagine what sound he heard. This is important to the plot line because the main part of the story revolves on not getting found and to stay alive. If he can hear the padding of his pursuers feet than he might lose "the game.'' Therefore the sense of sound is incorporated into the literature to help develop the plot of the
The author uses imagery to interest the reader in her story that may seem mundane without the imagery. An example of this happening is when Jeannette is going to her new school in Welch it was her first day and the teacher picks on her because she did not have to give the school her records to her not having them as that is happening a tall girl stabs her out of nowhere“I felt something sharp and painful between my shoulder blades and turned around. The tall black girl with the almond eyes was sitting at the desk behind me.
Imagery is a good source to help the readers better understand what is happening in the poem. There are several examples of different kinds of imagery. One example is “crouching over the hot coals of desire” (Wallada 5). This shows the use of kinetic imagery and visual imagery. It shows kinetic imagery because it shows the image of a character bending over hot coals. Visual imagery is used by having the reader visualize someone bending over something. Another example of imagery being portrayed in this poem is “there may be winter rains pelting copiously down” (Wallada 13-14). Tactile imagery is used