Imagery.
Definition: Imagery refers to the use of words and phrases that create vivid sensory experiences for the reader. Though sight imagery is most common, imagery may appeal to any of the senses. Good writers often attempt to appeal to several senses.
Getting started with imagery:
Before you begin the imagery exercises, practice creating some specific images. Your images can be figurative or not. Use the chart and topics below.
Lesson 1:
Read and think:
A snug small room; a round table by a cheerful fire; an arm-chair high-backed and old-fashioned, wherein sat the neatest imaginable little elderly lady, in widow's cap, black silk gown, and snowy muslin apron; exactly like what I had fancied Mrs Fairfax, only less stately and milder looking. She was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet...
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Talk about it:
1. Imagery is the reproduction of sensory experiences through language. Which of the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) is most important here? Underline the particular words that create this sense experience for the reader?
2. The narrator describes Mrs. Fairfax as "less stately and milder looking" than she imagined. Describe how you think the narrator pictured Mrs. Fairfax before her actual visit.
Now you try:
Use visual imagery to describe a relative or friend of the family. Capture your character's looks, clothes, and surroundings using vivid images. With Bronte's passage as a model, try to set up a contrast between what you expected the character to look like and what the character really looks like.
Read and think:
A snug small room; a round table by a cheerful fire; an arm-chair high-backed and old-fashioned, wherein sat the neatest imaginable little elderly lady, in widow's cap, black silk gown, and snowy muslin apron; exactly like what I had fancied Mrs Fairfax, only less stately and milder looking. She was occupied in knitting; a large cat sat demurely at her feet...
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Talk about it:
1. Imagery is the reproduction of sensory experiences through language. Which of the five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) is most important here? Underline the particular words that create this sense experience for the reader?
2. The narrator describes Mrs. Fairfax as "less stately and milder looking" than she imagined. Describe how you think the narrator pictured Mrs. Fairfax before her actual visit.
Now you try:
Use visual imagery to describe a relative or friend of the family. Capture your character's looks, clothes, and surroundings using vivid images. With Bronte's passage as a model, try to set up a contrast between what you expected the character to look like and what the character really looks like.
Lesson 2:
Read and think:
When darkness came on, sky and sea roared and split with the thunder, and blazed with the lightning, that showed the disabled masts fluttering here and there and with the rags which the first fury of the tempest had left for its after sport.
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, or The Whale
Talk about it:
1. Underline the images. What kind of imagery is used in these lines? What feeling is created by these images?
2. Contrast the feeling created by Melville's sentences with these:
It got dark and there was a terrible storm. The sails were torn up by the wind.
Now you try:
Write two sentences describing a scene of calm beauty after a storm has passed. Use both visual and auditory imagery as Melville does in his sentences.
Read and think:
When darkness came on, sky and sea roared and split with the thunder, and blazed with the lightning, that showed the disabled masts fluttering here and there and with the rags which the first fury of the tempest had left for its after sport.
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, or The Whale
Talk about it:
1. Underline the images. What kind of imagery is used in these lines? What feeling is created by these images?
2. Contrast the feeling created by Melville's sentences with these:
It got dark and there was a terrible storm. The sails were torn up by the wind.
Now you try:
Write two sentences describing a scene of calm beauty after a storm has passed. Use both visual and auditory imagery as Melville does in his sentences.
Lesson 3:
Read and think:
Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go boom--boom--boom--twelve licks; and all still again--stiller than ever. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees--something was a-stirring. I sat still and listened.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? How do these images affect the reader?
2. Twain uses imagery to set up a contrast between noise and quiet. List these images in the chart below.
Read and think:
Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go boom--boom--boom--twelve licks; and all still again--stiller than ever. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees--something was a-stirring. I sat still and listened.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? How do these images affect the reader?
2. Twain uses imagery to set up a contrast between noise and quiet. List these images in the chart below.
How does the use of both "quiet" and "noise" images shape your understanding of the scene?
Now you try it:
Write a paragraph describing the sounds you hear in your classroom. Use imagery that captures both the quiet of the room and the noise of the room. Use Twain's paragraph as a model.
Now you try it:
Write a paragraph describing the sounds you hear in your classroom. Use imagery that captures both the quiet of the room and the noise of the room. Use Twain's paragraph as a model.
Lesson 4:
Read and think:
It was in the spring of 1890 that I learned to speak. The impulse to utter audible sounds had always been strong within me. I used to make noises, keeping one hand on my throat while the other hand felt the movement of my lips. I was pleased with anything that made a noise and liked to feel the cat purr and the dog bark. I also liked to keep my hand on a singer's throat, or on a piano when it was being played. Before I lost my sight and hearing, I was fast learning to talk, but after my illness it was found that I had ceased to speak because I could not hear. I used to sit in my mother's lap all day long and keep my hands on her face because it amused me to feel the motions of her lips, too, although I had forgotten what talking was.
-Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Talk about it:
1. Helen Keller contracted an illness when she was 19 months old that left her blind and deaf. She eventually had a brilliant teacher who taught her to read, write and speak - experiences that are described in her autobiography. What kind of imagery is most prominent in this paragraph? Support your answer by underlining the images in the paragraph. Are these images figurative or literal? What effect does that have on the reader?
2. What does the imagery in this passage reveal about the character's attitude toward speaking?
Now you try:
Write a few sentences describing touching something cold and slimy. Use images that appeal to the sense of touch. Do not use any figurative language.
Read and think:
It was in the spring of 1890 that I learned to speak. The impulse to utter audible sounds had always been strong within me. I used to make noises, keeping one hand on my throat while the other hand felt the movement of my lips. I was pleased with anything that made a noise and liked to feel the cat purr and the dog bark. I also liked to keep my hand on a singer's throat, or on a piano when it was being played. Before I lost my sight and hearing, I was fast learning to talk, but after my illness it was found that I had ceased to speak because I could not hear. I used to sit in my mother's lap all day long and keep my hands on her face because it amused me to feel the motions of her lips, too, although I had forgotten what talking was.
-Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Talk about it:
1. Helen Keller contracted an illness when she was 19 months old that left her blind and deaf. She eventually had a brilliant teacher who taught her to read, write and speak - experiences that are described in her autobiography. What kind of imagery is most prominent in this paragraph? Support your answer by underlining the images in the paragraph. Are these images figurative or literal? What effect does that have on the reader?
2. What does the imagery in this passage reveal about the character's attitude toward speaking?
Now you try:
Write a few sentences describing touching something cold and slimy. Use images that appeal to the sense of touch. Do not use any figurative language.
Lesson 5
Read and think:
Some tornadoes look shapeless, like a cloud of dust. Others are very wide. They look like an upside-down bell. Some look like and elephant's trunk. Others are very thin, like a snake. Most tornadoes change shape at some point.
Chris Oxlade, Storm Warning: Tornadoes
Talk about it:
1. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between figurative language (like metaphors and similes) and imagery. That's because a lot of figurative language contains imagery. For example, we could describe someone's hair as limp and stringy, like overcooked spaghetti. This is a visual image--it makes you "see" the hair. But it is also figurative (hair is compared to overcooked spaghetti). This paragraph uses figurative language (similes) to give the reader a clear visual image of the different shapes of tornadoes. List the similes used in the passage, and explain the effect the imagery (created by these similes) has on your understanding of tornadoes.
2. Read the passage again and cross out the similes and the visual images they capture. How does the impact of the passage change without the similes?
Now you try it:
Describe two different kinds of cars. First describe the cars using imagery that is figurative. After that, describe the cars with imagery that is literal. Which description do you think is stronger?
Read and think:
Some tornadoes look shapeless, like a cloud of dust. Others are very wide. They look like an upside-down bell. Some look like and elephant's trunk. Others are very thin, like a snake. Most tornadoes change shape at some point.
Chris Oxlade, Storm Warning: Tornadoes
Talk about it:
1. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between figurative language (like metaphors and similes) and imagery. That's because a lot of figurative language contains imagery. For example, we could describe someone's hair as limp and stringy, like overcooked spaghetti. This is a visual image--it makes you "see" the hair. But it is also figurative (hair is compared to overcooked spaghetti). This paragraph uses figurative language (similes) to give the reader a clear visual image of the different shapes of tornadoes. List the similes used in the passage, and explain the effect the imagery (created by these similes) has on your understanding of tornadoes.
2. Read the passage again and cross out the similes and the visual images they capture. How does the impact of the passage change without the similes?
Now you try it:
Describe two different kinds of cars. First describe the cars using imagery that is figurative. After that, describe the cars with imagery that is literal. Which description do you think is stronger?
Lesson 6:
Read and think:
Going up to the fireplace, he pushed the big kettle aside and reached for a smaller one that was suspended on a chain. Then sitting down on a three-legged stool, he kindled a bright fire. When the kettle was boiling, the old man put a large piece of cheese on a long iron fork, and held it over the fire, turning it to and fro, till it was golden-brown on all sides.
Johanna Spyri, Heidi
Talk about it:
1. Underline the important images in the passage. What kind of imagery do you think is most vivid in this passage? What stands out to you as you read?
2. What feelings do the images in this passage evoke? Would you like to be there?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph that uses imagery to help the reader understand what something tastes like. Your images can be figurative or not.
Read and think:
Going up to the fireplace, he pushed the big kettle aside and reached for a smaller one that was suspended on a chain. Then sitting down on a three-legged stool, he kindled a bright fire. When the kettle was boiling, the old man put a large piece of cheese on a long iron fork, and held it over the fire, turning it to and fro, till it was golden-brown on all sides.
Johanna Spyri, Heidi
Talk about it:
1. Underline the important images in the passage. What kind of imagery do you think is most vivid in this passage? What stands out to you as you read?
2. What feelings do the images in this passage evoke? Would you like to be there?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph that uses imagery to help the reader understand what something tastes like. Your images can be figurative or not.
Lesson 7:
Read and think:
I crossed the staircase landing, and entered the room she indicated. From that room, too, the daylight was completely excluded, and it had an airless smell that was oppressive. A fire had been lately kindled in the damp old-fashioned grate, adn it was more disposed to go out than to burn up, and the reluctant smoke which hung in the room seemed colder than the clearer air,--like our own marsh mist. Certain wintry branches of candles on the high chimney-piece faintly lightened the chamber; or it would be more expressive to say, faintly troubled its darkness.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? Fill in the chart below with images that show which of the five senses Dickens uses to bring the reader into the experience of this passage.
Read and think:
I crossed the staircase landing, and entered the room she indicated. From that room, too, the daylight was completely excluded, and it had an airless smell that was oppressive. A fire had been lately kindled in the damp old-fashioned grate, adn it was more disposed to go out than to burn up, and the reluctant smoke which hung in the room seemed colder than the clearer air,--like our own marsh mist. Certain wintry branches of candles on the high chimney-piece faintly lightened the chamber; or it would be more expressive to say, faintly troubled its darkness.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in this passage? Fill in the chart below with images that show which of the five senses Dickens uses to bring the reader into the experience of this passage.
2. Consider the last sentence. Which part of the candle description is literal and which is figurative? What kind of figurative language is used here?
Now you try it:
Think of a feast you have enjoyed with family or friends. Using imagery that appeals to sight, smell, and taste, describes the feast to a partner. Your partner should write down several effective images from your description. Switch with your partner and repeat the activity. Share the images with the class.
Now you try it:
Think of a feast you have enjoyed with family or friends. Using imagery that appeals to sight, smell, and taste, describes the feast to a partner. Your partner should write down several effective images from your description. Switch with your partner and repeat the activity. Share the images with the class.
Lesson 8:
Read and think:
The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
The pert* may suppose it meaningless, but I listen close,
Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.
-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself", Leaves of Grass
*flippant
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in these lines? Is the imagery literal or figurative?
2. What is the speaker's attitude toward the gander's cry? How does the imagery in this passage help you understand the speaker's attitude?
Now you try:
Write four lines of poetry that focus on a sound. It could be a positive sound like the sound of a waterfall or a negative sound like the cry of a friend in danger. Try to create a central sound (like the "ya-honk" in Whitman's poem). Then build your images to reveal your attitude toward the sound.
Read and think:
The wild gander leads his flock through the cool night,
Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
The pert* may suppose it meaningless, but I listen close,
Find its purpose and place up there toward the wintry sky.
-Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself", Leaves of Grass
*flippant
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used in these lines? Is the imagery literal or figurative?
2. What is the speaker's attitude toward the gander's cry? How does the imagery in this passage help you understand the speaker's attitude?
Now you try:
Write four lines of poetry that focus on a sound. It could be a positive sound like the sound of a waterfall or a negative sound like the cry of a friend in danger. Try to create a central sound (like the "ya-honk" in Whitman's poem). Then build your images to reveal your attitude toward the sound.
Lesson 9:
Read and think:
One way to feed water directly to plant roots is drip irrigation. A system of pipes is laid along the ground, close to the plants or just below the surface of the soil. Holes int he pipe allow small amounts of water out into the soil. The water is taken up by plant roots before it evaporates or drains away. This system reduces the quantity of water used for irrigation and reduces water wastage.
-Richard Spilsbury, Managing Water
Talk about it:
1. Nonfiction uses imagery too. Imagery helps the reader thoroughly understand the information. Read the passage again and sketch an agricultural field with drip irrigation. You are able to do this because of the visual imagery in the passage.
2. Would it be possible to explain drip irrigation without the visual images? Defend your answer.
Now you try it:
Think about something you know very well but not everyone understands. Explain what you know using clear, precise visual images. Write at least five sentences. Spilsbury's paragraph can serve as a model.
Read and think:
One way to feed water directly to plant roots is drip irrigation. A system of pipes is laid along the ground, close to the plants or just below the surface of the soil. Holes int he pipe allow small amounts of water out into the soil. The water is taken up by plant roots before it evaporates or drains away. This system reduces the quantity of water used for irrigation and reduces water wastage.
-Richard Spilsbury, Managing Water
Talk about it:
1. Nonfiction uses imagery too. Imagery helps the reader thoroughly understand the information. Read the passage again and sketch an agricultural field with drip irrigation. You are able to do this because of the visual imagery in the passage.
2. Would it be possible to explain drip irrigation without the visual images? Defend your answer.
Now you try it:
Think about something you know very well but not everyone understands. Explain what you know using clear, precise visual images. Write at least five sentences. Spilsbury's paragraph can serve as a model.
Lesson 10
Read and think:
When I reached Richmond, I was completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in the place, and, being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. I applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I walked the streets. In doing this I passed by many food-stands where fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that I would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to have gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies. But I could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.
-Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
Talk about it:
1. Underline all of the images you can find. What kind of imagery is used in this passage?
2. How does the imagery help you understand what the narrator is experiencing?
Now you try:
Finish the following passage using Washington's paragraph as a model.
I passed by a display of electronic equipment where__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Read and think:
When I reached Richmond, I was completely out of money. I had not a single acquaintance in the place, and, being unused to city ways, I did not know where to go. I applied at several places for lodging, but they all wanted money, and that was what I did not have. Knowing nothing else better to do, I walked the streets. In doing this I passed by many food-stands where fried chicken and half-moon apple pies were piled high and made to present a most tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to me that I would have promised all that I expected to possess in the future to have gotten hold of one of those chicken legs or one of those pies. But I could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.
-Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography
Talk about it:
1. Underline all of the images you can find. What kind of imagery is used in this passage?
2. How does the imagery help you understand what the narrator is experiencing?
Now you try:
Finish the following passage using Washington's paragraph as a model.
I passed by a display of electronic equipment where__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Lesson 11:
Read and think:
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Talk about it:
1. These stanzas show the Mariner's changing attitude toward the creatures of the sea. What is the Mariner's attitude in the first stanza? What images reveals this attitude?
2. What is the Mariner's attitude in the second stanza? Analyze the imagery that reveals this change.
Now you try:
Think of an animal you can describe easily. First, write a description which reveals a positive attitude toward the animal. Then think of the same animal and write a description which reveals a negative attitude. Remember that the animal's looks do not change; only your attitude changes. Use imagery rather than explanation to create your descriptions.
Read and think:
The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.
Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Talk about it:
1. These stanzas show the Mariner's changing attitude toward the creatures of the sea. What is the Mariner's attitude in the first stanza? What images reveals this attitude?
2. What is the Mariner's attitude in the second stanza? Analyze the imagery that reveals this change.
Now you try:
Think of an animal you can describe easily. First, write a description which reveals a positive attitude toward the animal. Then think of the same animal and write a description which reveals a negative attitude. Remember that the animal's looks do not change; only your attitude changes. Use imagery rather than explanation to create your descriptions.
Lesson 12:
Read and think:
And now nothing but drums, a battery of drums, the conga drums jamming out, in a descarga, and the drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell. There's rain drums, like pitter-patter but a hundred times faster, and then slamming-the-door drums and dropping-the-bucket drums, kicking-the-car-fender drums. Then circus drums, then coconuts-falling-out-of-the-trees-and-thumping-against-the-ground drums, then lion-skin drums, then the-wacking-of-a-hand-against-a-wall-drums, the-beating-of-a-pounding drum, heavy-stones-against-a-wall drums, then the-little-birds-learning-to-fly drums and the-big-birds-alighting-on-a-rooftop-and-fanning-their-immense-wings drums...
- Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Talk about it:
1. Read the passage aloud. How does Hijuelos create the auditory imagery of drumming? In other words, how do the words imitate the sounds they represent?
2. Hijuelos repeats the word then eight times in this passage. What does this repetition contribute to the auditory image of drumming?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph in which you capture two different sounds at a sporting event. In your paragraph try to imitate the sounds themselves which your words. Don't worry about correct grammar. Instead, focus on creating a vivid auditory image. Share your paragraph with a partner.
Read and think:
And now nothing but drums, a battery of drums, the conga drums jamming out, in a descarga, and the drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell. There's rain drums, like pitter-patter but a hundred times faster, and then slamming-the-door drums and dropping-the-bucket drums, kicking-the-car-fender drums. Then circus drums, then coconuts-falling-out-of-the-trees-and-thumping-against-the-ground drums, then lion-skin drums, then the-wacking-of-a-hand-against-a-wall-drums, the-beating-of-a-pounding drum, heavy-stones-against-a-wall drums, then the-little-birds-learning-to-fly drums and the-big-birds-alighting-on-a-rooftop-and-fanning-their-immense-wings drums...
- Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Talk about it:
1. Read the passage aloud. How does Hijuelos create the auditory imagery of drumming? In other words, how do the words imitate the sounds they represent?
2. Hijuelos repeats the word then eight times in this passage. What does this repetition contribute to the auditory image of drumming?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph in which you capture two different sounds at a sporting event. In your paragraph try to imitate the sounds themselves which your words. Don't worry about correct grammar. Instead, focus on creating a vivid auditory image. Share your paragraph with a partner.
Lesson 13:
Read and think:
She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her farther's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.
-Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Talk about it:
1. Although the narrator "looks into the distance," the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory images in the passage? What mood do these images create?
2. The last sentence of this passage contains an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks fill the air). What effect does the use of an olfactory image, after a series of auditory images, have on the reader?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery. The purpose of your paragraph is to create a calm, peaceful mood. Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory images.
Read and think:
She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her farther's voice and her sister Margaret's. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.
-Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Talk about it:
1. Although the narrator "looks into the distance," the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory images in the passage? What mood do these images create?
2. The last sentence of this passage contains an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks fill the air). What effect does the use of an olfactory image, after a series of auditory images, have on the reader?
Now you try:
Write a paragraph in which you create a scene through auditory imagery. The purpose of your paragraph is to create a calm, peaceful mood. Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory images.
Lesson 14:
Read and think:
In was a mine town, uranium most recently. Dust devils whirled sand off the mountains. Even after the heaviest of rains, the water seeped back into the ground, between stones, and the earth was parched again.
-Linda Hogan, "Making Do"
Talk about it:
1. What feelings do you associate with images of dusty mountains and dry earth?
2. There are two images associated with land in the third sentence. Identify the two images and compare and contrast the feelings these images evoke.
Now you try:
Write a sentence describing a rainstorm using imagery that produces a positive response; then write a sentence describing a rainstorm with imagery that produces a negative response. Share your sentences with the class. Briefly discuss how the images create the positive and negative responses.
Read and think:
In was a mine town, uranium most recently. Dust devils whirled sand off the mountains. Even after the heaviest of rains, the water seeped back into the ground, between stones, and the earth was parched again.
-Linda Hogan, "Making Do"
Talk about it:
1. What feelings do you associate with images of dusty mountains and dry earth?
2. There are two images associated with land in the third sentence. Identify the two images and compare and contrast the feelings these images evoke.
Now you try:
Write a sentence describing a rainstorm using imagery that produces a positive response; then write a sentence describing a rainstorm with imagery that produces a negative response. Share your sentences with the class. Briefly discuss how the images create the positive and negative responses.
Lesson 15:
Read and think:
A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those strings
And bats with baby faces in the violet light
Whistled, and beat their wings
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall
And upside down in air were towers
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.
-T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"
Talk about it:
1. Paraphrase the image of the first two lines. What mood does the image create?
2. List the auditory images in these lines. How do these images help create the mood of the passage?
Now you try:
Write four or five lines of poetry which create - through imagery alone - a mood of absolute triumph. Do not state the nature of the triumph. Use both auditory and visual images. Share your lines with a partner.
Read and think:
A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those strings
And bats with baby faces in the violet light
Whistled, and beat their wings
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall
And upside down in air were towers
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.
-T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"
Talk about it:
1. Paraphrase the image of the first two lines. What mood does the image create?
2. List the auditory images in these lines. How do these images help create the mood of the passage?
Now you try:
Write four or five lines of poetry which create - through imagery alone - a mood of absolute triumph. Do not state the nature of the triumph. Use both auditory and visual images. Share your lines with a partner.
Lesson 16:
Read and think:
At first I saw only water so clear it magnified the fibers in the walls of the gourd. On the surface, I saw only my own round reflection. The old man encircled the neck of the gourd with his thumb and index finger and gave it a shake. As the water shook, then settled, the colors and lights shimmered into a picture, not reflecting anything I could see around me. There at the bottom of the gourd were my mother and father scanning the sky, which was where I was.
-Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used i the passage? Circle the images.
2. Compare and contrast the imagery of the last sentence with the imagery of the first four sentences.
Now you try:
Write a sentence which uses precise visual imagery to describe a simple action. Share your sentence with a partner.
Read and think:
At first I saw only water so clear it magnified the fibers in the walls of the gourd. On the surface, I saw only my own round reflection. The old man encircled the neck of the gourd with his thumb and index finger and gave it a shake. As the water shook, then settled, the colors and lights shimmered into a picture, not reflecting anything I could see around me. There at the bottom of the gourd were my mother and father scanning the sky, which was where I was.
-Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Talk about it:
1. What kind of imagery is used i the passage? Circle the images.
2. Compare and contrast the imagery of the last sentence with the imagery of the first four sentences.
Now you try:
Write a sentence which uses precise visual imagery to describe a simple action. Share your sentence with a partner.
Lesson 17:
Read and think:
I sat on the stump of a tree at his feet, and below us stretched the land, the great expanse of the forests, somber under the sunshine, rolling like a sea, with glints of winding rivers, the grey spots of villages, and here and there a clearing, like an islet of light amongst the dark waves of continuous tree-tops. A brooding gloom lay over this vast and monotonous landscape; the light fell on it as if into an abyss. The land devoured the sunshine; only far off, along the coast, the empty ocean, smooth and polished within the faint haze, seemed to rise up to the sky in a wall of steel.
-Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim
Talk about it:
1. Fill out the chart below with images from the passage:
Read and think:
I sat on the stump of a tree at his feet, and below us stretched the land, the great expanse of the forests, somber under the sunshine, rolling like a sea, with glints of winding rivers, the grey spots of villages, and here and there a clearing, like an islet of light amongst the dark waves of continuous tree-tops. A brooding gloom lay over this vast and monotonous landscape; the light fell on it as if into an abyss. The land devoured the sunshine; only far off, along the coast, the empty ocean, smooth and polished within the faint haze, seemed to rise up to the sky in a wall of steel.
-Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim
Talk about it:
1. Fill out the chart below with images from the passage:
2. What attitude toward the land and the sea do these images convey?
Now you try:
Select a partner and describe an utterly silent experience you have had. Your partner should write down one visual (and non-figurative) image from your description. Switch with your partner and repeat the procedure. Share the images with the class.
Now you try:
Select a partner and describe an utterly silent experience you have had. Your partner should write down one visual (and non-figurative) image from your description. Switch with your partner and repeat the procedure. Share the images with the class.
Lesson 18:
Read and think:
I also enjoy canoeing, and I suppose you will smile when I say that I especially like it on moonlight nights. I cannot, it is true, see the moon climb up the sky behind the pines and steal softly across the heavens, making a shining path for us to follow; but I know she is there, as I like back among the pillows and put my hand in the water, I fancy that I feel the shimmer of her garments as she passes. Sometimes a daring little fish slips between my fingers, and often a pond-lily presses shyly against my hand. Frequently, as we emerge from the shelter of a cove or inlet, I am suddenly conscious of the spaciousness of the air about me. A luminous warmth seems to enfold me.
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Talk about it:
1. Since Helen Keller was blind and deaf, tactile imagery becomes a focus in her writing. Underline the tactile images in the passage.
2. Which images in the passage are more specific: visual or tactile? Support your answers with reference to the passage.
Now you try:
Close your eyes and touch some familiar objects at your desk. Then open your eyes and describe to a partner how those objects felt. Be sure to use specific, tactile images, not visual images or figurative language.
Read and think:
I also enjoy canoeing, and I suppose you will smile when I say that I especially like it on moonlight nights. I cannot, it is true, see the moon climb up the sky behind the pines and steal softly across the heavens, making a shining path for us to follow; but I know she is there, as I like back among the pillows and put my hand in the water, I fancy that I feel the shimmer of her garments as she passes. Sometimes a daring little fish slips between my fingers, and often a pond-lily presses shyly against my hand. Frequently, as we emerge from the shelter of a cove or inlet, I am suddenly conscious of the spaciousness of the air about me. A luminous warmth seems to enfold me.
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Talk about it:
1. Since Helen Keller was blind and deaf, tactile imagery becomes a focus in her writing. Underline the tactile images in the passage.
2. Which images in the passage are more specific: visual or tactile? Support your answers with reference to the passage.
Now you try:
Close your eyes and touch some familiar objects at your desk. Then open your eyes and describe to a partner how those objects felt. Be sure to use specific, tactile images, not visual images or figurative language.
Lesson 19:
Read and think:
A ripe guava is yellow, although some varieties have a pink tinge. The skin is think, firm, and sweet. Its heart is bright pink and almost solid with seeds. The most delicious part of the guava surrounds the tiny seeds. If you don't know how to eat a guava, the seeds end up in the crevice between your teeth.
When you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hitting the center...
A green guava is sour and hard. You bite into it at its widest point, because it's easier to grasp with your teeth. You hear the skin, meat, and seeds crunching inside your head, while the inside of your mouth explodes in little spurts of sour.
- Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican
Talk about it:
1. The imagery in the second sentence is simple and direct. What effects do such simplicity and directness have on the reader?
2. Santiago uses an adjective (sour) as a noun in her final image. What effect does this have on the meaning of the image?
Now you try:
Write a sentence which contains an image that captures the taste of something you hate. Your image should contain an adjective used as a noun. Share your image with a partner.
Read and think:
A ripe guava is yellow, although some varieties have a pink tinge. The skin is think, firm, and sweet. Its heart is bright pink and almost solid with seeds. The most delicious part of the guava surrounds the tiny seeds. If you don't know how to eat a guava, the seeds end up in the crevice between your teeth.
When you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hitting the center...
A green guava is sour and hard. You bite into it at its widest point, because it's easier to grasp with your teeth. You hear the skin, meat, and seeds crunching inside your head, while the inside of your mouth explodes in little spurts of sour.
- Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican
Talk about it:
1. The imagery in the second sentence is simple and direct. What effects do such simplicity and directness have on the reader?
2. Santiago uses an adjective (sour) as a noun in her final image. What effect does this have on the meaning of the image?
Now you try:
Write a sentence which contains an image that captures the taste of something you hate. Your image should contain an adjective used as a noun. Share your image with a partner.
Lesson 20:
Read and think:
As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair
In leprosy; thin dry blades priced the mud
Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood.
One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare,
Stood stupefied, however he came there:
Thrust out past service from the devil's stud!
-Robert Browning, "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came"
Talk about it:
1. What feelings are produced by the image of the grass in lines 1-3?
2. Does the imagery of the horse (lines 4-6) inspire sympathy? Explain your answer with direct references to specific images.
Now you try:
Write a description of an old, sick person. Convey an attitude of horror through the imagery of your description. Do not explain the sense of horror; do not use figurative language. Instead, use specific imagery to convey the meaning of your description. Share your description with the class.
Read and think:
As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair
In leprosy; thin dry blades priced the mud
Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood.
One stiff blind horse, his every bone a-stare,
Stood stupefied, however he came there:
Thrust out past service from the devil's stud!
-Robert Browning, "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came"
Talk about it:
1. What feelings are produced by the image of the grass in lines 1-3?
2. Does the imagery of the horse (lines 4-6) inspire sympathy? Explain your answer with direct references to specific images.
Now you try:
Write a description of an old, sick person. Convey an attitude of horror through the imagery of your description. Do not explain the sense of horror; do not use figurative language. Instead, use specific imagery to convey the meaning of your description. Share your description with the class.
Lesson 21:
Read and think:
All the hedges are singing with yellow birds!
A boy runs by with lemons in his hands.
-Rita Dove, "Notes From a Tunisian Journal"
Talk about it:
1. How does the image of the boy in the second line intensify your understanding of the hedges in the first line?
2. How would the effect be different if the second line read, "A boy runs by with apples in his hands"?
Now you try:
Write a sentence that conveys a feeling of extreme exuberance through the image of someone walking and carrying an object. Use only images, no figurative language. Share your sentences with a partner.
Read and think:
All the hedges are singing with yellow birds!
A boy runs by with lemons in his hands.
-Rita Dove, "Notes From a Tunisian Journal"
Talk about it:
1. How does the image of the boy in the second line intensify your understanding of the hedges in the first line?
2. How would the effect be different if the second line read, "A boy runs by with apples in his hands"?
Now you try:
Write a sentence that conveys a feeling of extreme exuberance through the image of someone walking and carrying an object. Use only images, no figurative language. Share your sentences with a partner.
Lesson 22:
Read and think:
In the midst of poverty and want, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground.
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Talk about it:
1. What do you understand about Felix from the imagery of this sentence?
2. How would the effect be different if Felix carried his sister a big bouquet of spring flowers?
Now you try:
Write a sentence which expresses the joy of renewal through a visual image. Share your sentence with a partner.
Read and think:
In the midst of poverty and want, Felix carried with pleasure to his sister the first little white flower that peeped out from beneath the snowy ground.
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
Talk about it:
1. What do you understand about Felix from the imagery of this sentence?
2. How would the effect be different if Felix carried his sister a big bouquet of spring flowers?
Now you try:
Write a sentence which expresses the joy of renewal through a visual image. Share your sentence with a partner.
Lesson 23:
Read and think:
But when the old man left, he was suddenly aware of the old hogan: the red sand floor had been swept unevenly; the boxes were spilling out rags; the trunks were full of the junk and trash an old man saves - notebooks and whisker hairs.
- Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
Talk about it:
1. What scene is created by the images in this selection? Brainstorm with the class of a list of adjectives that describe this scene?
2. What attitude toward the old man does the final image (the trunks were full of the junk and trash an old man saves - notebooks and whisker hairs) reveal?
Now you try:
Draw a sketch of your room. In your sketch select images that reveal your character. Trade sketches with a partner. Interpret each other's sketches based on the images and discuss each other's interpretations. Share your insights with the class.
Read and think:
But when the old man left, he was suddenly aware of the old hogan: the red sand floor had been swept unevenly; the boxes were spilling out rags; the trunks were full of the junk and trash an old man saves - notebooks and whisker hairs.
- Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
Talk about it:
1. What scene is created by the images in this selection? Brainstorm with the class of a list of adjectives that describe this scene?
2. What attitude toward the old man does the final image (the trunks were full of the junk and trash an old man saves - notebooks and whisker hairs) reveal?
Now you try:
Draw a sketch of your room. In your sketch select images that reveal your character. Trade sketches with a partner. Interpret each other's sketches based on the images and discuss each other's interpretations. Share your insights with the class.
Lesson 24:
Read and think:
This is the time of year
When almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
rising toward a saint
still honoring in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
-Elizabeth Bishop, "The Armadillo (from Robert Lowell)"
Talk about it:
1. Read the two stanzas aloud. What kind of imagery does Bishop use in these lines? How does the use of imagery contribute to the reader's understanding of the lines?
2. The image of the balloons rising and filling with light ends with a simile (like hearts). How is the effect of the simile different from that of the image?
Now you try:
Write an image of an unusual sight you have witnessed on a vacation. Use ten words or less. Now describe the same sight using a simile. Discuss the differences in effect with a partner.
Read and think:
This is the time of year
When almost every night
the frail, illegal fire balloons appear.
Climbing the mountain height,
rising toward a saint
still honoring in these parts,
the paper chambers flush and fill with light
that comes and goes, like hearts.
-Elizabeth Bishop, "The Armadillo (from Robert Lowell)"
Talk about it:
1. Read the two stanzas aloud. What kind of imagery does Bishop use in these lines? How does the use of imagery contribute to the reader's understanding of the lines?
2. The image of the balloons rising and filling with light ends with a simile (like hearts). How is the effect of the simile different from that of the image?
Now you try:
Write an image of an unusual sight you have witnessed on a vacation. Use ten words or less. Now describe the same sight using a simile. Discuss the differences in effect with a partner.
Lesson 25:
Read and think:
There were some dirty plates
and a glass of milk
beside her on a small table
near the rank, disheveled bed -
Wrinkled and nearly blind
she lay and snored
rousing with anger in her tones
to cry for food.
- William Carlos Williams, "The Last Words of my English Grandmother"
Talk about it:
1. These stanzas contain visual, olfactory (smell), auditory (hearing), and gustatory (taste) images, Fill in the chart below with concrete images from the poem.
Read and think:
There were some dirty plates
and a glass of milk
beside her on a small table
near the rank, disheveled bed -
Wrinkled and nearly blind
she lay and snored
rousing with anger in her tones
to cry for food.
- William Carlos Williams, "The Last Words of my English Grandmother"
Talk about it:
1. These stanzas contain visual, olfactory (smell), auditory (hearing), and gustatory (taste) images, Fill in the chart below with concrete images from the poem.
2. Contrast the attitude toward the old woman in the two stanzas. How does it change? What images create the change in attitude?
Now you try:
Think of a group of young people cheering at a sporting event. Write a paragraph describing them in a positive way; then write another paragraph describing them in a negative way. Use at least two types of imagery in your descriptions. Post your descriptions around the room.
Now you try:
Think of a group of young people cheering at a sporting event. Write a paragraph describing them in a positive way; then write another paragraph describing them in a negative way. Use at least two types of imagery in your descriptions. Post your descriptions around the room.
Lesson 26:
Read and think:
The rainy night had ushered in a misty morning - half frost, half drizzle - and temporary brooks crossed our path, gurgling from the uplands.
-Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Talk about it:
1. Bronte uses both visual and auditory images in this passage. Which words create visual images? Which words create auditory images? Which words create both?
2. What feelings are traditionally associated with rain, mist, and frost? How would the feeling of this passage be different if the rainy night had ushered in a brilliant, sunny morning?
Now you try:
Write two sentences that create a mood of terror. Use visual and auditory imagery to describe the weather, thereby setting and reinforcing the mood. Share your sentences with the class.
Read and think:
The rainy night had ushered in a misty morning - half frost, half drizzle - and temporary brooks crossed our path, gurgling from the uplands.
-Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
Talk about it:
1. Bronte uses both visual and auditory images in this passage. Which words create visual images? Which words create auditory images? Which words create both?
2. What feelings are traditionally associated with rain, mist, and frost? How would the feeling of this passage be different if the rainy night had ushered in a brilliant, sunny morning?
Now you try:
Write two sentences that create a mood of terror. Use visual and auditory imagery to describe the weather, thereby setting and reinforcing the mood. Share your sentences with the class.
Lesson 27:
Read and think:
I was born in the year of the loon
in a great commotion, My mother -
who used to pack $500 cash
in the shoulders of her gambling coat,
who had always considered herself
the family's "First son" -
took one look at me
and lit out again
for a vacation in Sumatra.
Her brother purchased my baby clothes;
I've seen them, little clown suits
of silk and color.
-Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, "Chronicle"
Talk about it:
1. Examine the image of the baby clothes in lines 11-12: little clown suits of silk and color. No specific color is mentioned. What effect does this have on the meaning of the lines?
2. Contrast the description of the mother's gambling coat in lines 3 and 4 with the image of the baby clothes in line 11. What attitude do these images reveal about the mother?
Now you try:
With a partner, think of items of clothing that can suggest either seriousness or frivolity. Identify four such items of clothing then fill in the following chart:
Read and think:
I was born in the year of the loon
in a great commotion, My mother -
who used to pack $500 cash
in the shoulders of her gambling coat,
who had always considered herself
the family's "First son" -
took one look at me
and lit out again
for a vacation in Sumatra.
Her brother purchased my baby clothes;
I've seen them, little clown suits
of silk and color.
-Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, "Chronicle"
Talk about it:
1. Examine the image of the baby clothes in lines 11-12: little clown suits of silk and color. No specific color is mentioned. What effect does this have on the meaning of the lines?
2. Contrast the description of the mother's gambling coat in lines 3 and 4 with the image of the baby clothes in line 11. What attitude do these images reveal about the mother?
Now you try:
With a partner, think of items of clothing that can suggest either seriousness or frivolity. Identify four such items of clothing then fill in the following chart:
Lesson 28:
Read and think:
Part of a mood was falling down the west,
Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.
Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw it
And spread her apron to it. She put out her hand
Among the harp-like morning-glory strings,
Taut with the dew from garden bed to eaves,
As if she played unheard some tenderness
That wrought on him beside her in the night.
"Warren," she said, "he has come home to die:
You needn't be afraid he'll leave you this time."
- Robert Frost, "The Death of the Hired Man"
Talk about it:
1. Identify the visual, auditory, and tactile images in the lines above.
2. How does the poet use imagery to prepare the reader for the announcement in lines 9-12?
Now you try:
Write a one-sentence description of some element in a garden or yard. Be certain your sentence contains a visual or tactile image. Share your sentence with a partner.
Read and think:
Part of a mood was falling down the west,
Dragging the whole sky with it to the hills.
Its light poured softly in her lap. She saw it
And spread her apron to it. She put out her hand
Among the harp-like morning-glory strings,
Taut with the dew from garden bed to eaves,
As if she played unheard some tenderness
That wrought on him beside her in the night.
"Warren," she said, "he has come home to die:
You needn't be afraid he'll leave you this time."
- Robert Frost, "The Death of the Hired Man"
Talk about it:
1. Identify the visual, auditory, and tactile images in the lines above.
2. How does the poet use imagery to prepare the reader for the announcement in lines 9-12?
Now you try:
Write a one-sentence description of some element in a garden or yard. Be certain your sentence contains a visual or tactile image. Share your sentence with a partner.