What Is IMAGERY

ENGLISH 7
Week 1
Poetry: Descriptions and Imagery
Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a story in a
concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words. Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and
meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform,
which follows no formal structure.
What is IMAGERY?
Imagery is a literary device used in poetry, novels, and other writing that uses vivid description
that appeals to a reader’s senses to create an image or idea in their head. Through language,
imagery does not only paint a picture, but aims to portray the sensational and emotional
experience within text.
Imagery can improve a reader’s experience of the text by immersing them more deeply by
appealing to their senses. Imagery in writing can aim at a reader’s sense of taste, smell, touch,
hearing, or sight through vivid descriptions. Imagery can be created using other literary devices
like similes, metaphors, or onomatopoeia.
Different types of Imagery

1. Visual Imagery
Visual imagery is most likely what people think of when they hear the term imagery. It uses
qualities of how something looks visually to best create an image in the reader’s head. These
visual qualities can be shapes, color, light, shadow, or even patterns . It is one of the most
common types of imagery as it allows readers to better describe the world and characters of a
novel or poem.
It is describing what one sees, often creating a vivid picture. Example: “The sky was a clear
azure, dotted with fluffy, white clouds.”
Visual imagery is often achieved through the use of other literary devices like metaphors and
similes. To say a woman looks like Helen of Troy is both imagery, a simile, and an allusion.
2. Auditory Imagery
This type of imagery appeals to a reader’s sense of hearing. It pertains to sounds, helping
readers hear what is being described.
Creating an auditory experience through text can be difficult. But it can also be necessary for a
story or plot. For example, the sound of war can be necessary to immerse the reader into a war
novel. This may be used to describe gunfire, explosions, screams, and helicopters.
Example: “The leaves rustled in the wind, whispering secrets as we passed.”
Writers also enlist the use of sound devices to create the actual sound of an action or effect
through text. This can make reading a story more experiential.
Sound Devices
1. Alliteration-the repetition of consonant sounds in the beginning of words,

as in slippery slope.
2. Repetition- the use of any element of language- a sound, word, phrase,

clause, or sentence- more than once. Examples: Time after time; Heart-to-
heart; Hand in hand; Home sweet home; It is what it is.
3. Assonance- the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different

consonants in stressed syllables creating internal rhymes, as in blade and maze,
crying time; hop-scotch; great flakes; between trees; and, the kind knight rides
by.
4. Consonance- the repetition of similar consonant sounds at the end of

accented syllables, as in wind and sand, Hickory dickory dock, Peter Piper
picked a peck of pickled peppers.
5. Onomatopoeia- the use of words the imitate sounds (crash, bang, hiss)
3. Gustatory Imagery
Gustatory imagery is a type of imagery that aims at a reader’s sense of taste. This would most
commonly be used to describe food as a character eats it.
This type of imagery focuses on taste, describing flavors in detail. Describing food as sweet,
salty, or even spicy can immerse a reader further into a character’s simple action of eating.
Example: “The chocolate melted on her tongue, a rich mix of sweet and bitter, like an unspoken
promise of joy.”
Gustatory imagery can be incredibly effective when describing unpleasant tastes as well.
4. Olfactory Imagery
Olfactory imagery is used when writers want to appeal to a reader’s sense of smell. Olfactory
imagery is a great way to better describe both what a character is experiencing as well as the
world of the novel, poem, or other writing. It relates to smells, enabling readers to imagine
scents described. The smell of fresh rain, smoke from a fire, or gasoline can be described
through olfactory imagery.
Example:
The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted through the air, warming the soul.
5. Tactile Imagery
To create the sensory experience of touch through text, writers utilize tactile imagery. This type
of imagery can be used to describe how something feels such as texture, temperature, wetness,
dryness, etc. It involves the sense of touch, describing textures and sensations.
Example: “The sand was hot and coarse under her feet, like walking on tiny coals.”

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ENGLISH 7

Poetry: Descriptions and Imagery

Different types of Imagery

1. Alliteration-the repetition of consonant sounds in the beginning of words,

2. Repetition- the use of any element of language- a sound, word, phrase,

3. Assonance- the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different

4. Consonance- the repetition of similar consonant sounds at the end of

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