What Is Imagery?
“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most common pieces of advice novice writers get. Showing, instead of telling, requires writers to paint a picture with words. One of the ways to achieve this is to use literary devices like imagery, which can help writers take their writing to the next level.
Effective usage of imagery can help readers not only visualize the world a writer has created, but it can also make readers feel like they’re a part of that world. Writers use imagery to appeal to any one or more of the five senses, which in turn evokes an emotional response in readers.
Types of Imagery
Depending on the type of sense—sight, smell, touch, taste, or sound—imagery is classified into five different types. Below are the different types of imagery followed by an example for each.
Visual Imagery
When a writer provides an elaborate description for something that can be seen or helps readers visualize something, then such imagery is called visual imagery. It appeals to the sense of sight.
Example:
“It was a rimy morning, and very damp. I had seen the damp lying on the outside of my little window… Now, I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass, … On every rail and gate, wet lay clammy; and the marsh-mist was so thick, that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village—a direction which they never accepted, for they never came there—was invisible to me until I was quite close under it.”
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
In the above example, the author vividly describes a rainy day using adjectives such as wet, clammy, damp, etc. through which readers get a sense of the scene, making it easier for a reader to visualize the scene.
Olfactory Imagery
A detailed description of something that can be smelled (any aroma, scent, fragrance, odor, etc.) is known as olfactory imagery. It appeals to the sense of smell.
Example:
“There were strange, rare odors abroad—a tangle of the sea smell and of weeds and damp, new-plowed earth, mingled with the heavy perfume of a field of white blossoms somewhere near.”
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
In the above example, the author describes different kinds of smells that are earthy, hinting at the aesthetic appeal of the beach on a moonlit night. The excerpt is a great example of olfactory imagery.
Tactile Imagery
Any description that describes some type of bodily sensation or anything else that can be felt or sensed (temperature, texture, etc.) is called tactile imagery. It appeals to the sense of touch.
Example:
“Half an hour later, cold, and moving carefully on the tracks, fully aware of his entire body, his face, his mouth, his eyes stuffed with blackness, his ears stuffed with sound, his legs prickled with burrs and nettles, he saw the fire ahead.”
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
In the above example, the character not only feels cold, but also feels as if his eyes and mouth are stuffed. Further, he feels tickled by the wild plants when they touch his leg. The above description gives readers a sense of what the character must be feeling, enabling them to better relate to the character.
Gustatory Imagery
When a writer describes something that pertains to flavors such as sweet, tangy, sour, spicy, salty, etc. and when such descriptions create a vivid image of the foods being described, then such imagery is called gustatory imagery. It appeals to the sense of taste.
“In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff crystals, salted almonds, popsicles, partially gnawed ice cream cones and wooden sticks of lollipops.”
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
In the above example, the sheep in the story mentions foods of different flavors that the rats can feast on at a fair. The description is so detailed that it helps readers come up with a mental picture of the items mentioned, showing the effectiveness of gustatory imagery.
Auditory Imagery
Writers use auditory imagery to describe various types of sound from loud noises to pleasant music. It appeals to the sense of sound.
Example:
“Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, 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 sallows, 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.”
To Autumn by John Keats
In the above description, the poet uses auditory imagery to describe the different sounds of autumn. Lambs bleating, crickets singing, red-breast whistling, and swallows twittering are just a few things that the poet believes make autumn beautiful.
Imagery, when used effectively, helps take writing to another level. It not only helps get the attention of the readers, but it also plays an important role in retaining their attention.
