What is

imagery in  Literature?

definition and examples

Imagery in literature refers to the use of descriptive language that creates vivid mental pictures in the reader’s mind.

Definition

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Visual imagery refers to the use of descriptive language to create a mental image in the reader’s mind.  Here are some examples of visual imagery:

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“The water, like a witch’s oils, Burnt green, and blue and white.”The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run” – To Autumn by John Keats

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Auditory imagery is the use of descriptive language to create a mental image of a sound.  Here are some examples of auditory imagery:

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“Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night!”The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

“A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many. Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled, And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.”The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot

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Imagery in Everyday Language

“I strolled down the cobblestone streets, soaking in the golden sunlight that dappled through the leaves above me.”

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“The electrifying guitar riffs resonated in my chest, and I could feel the pulse of the crowd.”

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