Imagery

 

 

Visual	After Apple-Picking	Once by the Pacific	Birches	October	Good Hours
Auditory	After Apple-Picking	Mowing	The Runaway	An Old Man's Winter Night	Stopping by Woods
Olfactory	After Apple-Picking	To Earthward	"Out, Out"	Unharvested	To a Young Wretch
Gustatory	After Apple-Picking	To Earthward	Blueberries	A Record Stride	The Exposed Nest
Tactile	After Apple-Picking	Moon Compasses	The Death of the Hired Man	The Witch of Coos	On Going Unnoticed
Organic	After Apple-Picking	Storm Fear	Birches	The White- Tailed Hornet	Spring Pools
Kinesthetic	After Apple-Picking	Bereft	Ghost House	A Late Walk	Once by the Pacific

 

Imagery

 

Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. Poetry indirectly appeals to our senses through imagery. Imagery is more incidental to a poem than metaphors, symbols and theme and they are often confused. Nevertheless, an image should conjure up something more than the mere mentioning of the object or situation. A mistake often made is to take every image as though it were a symbol or metaphor. Frost called that "pressing the poem too hard." Starting with the examples below, see how many you can find in each poem.

 

There are 7 different kinds of imagery:

Visual imagery - something seen in the mind's eye

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - magnified apples appear and disappear...every fleck of russet showing clear

Once by the Pacific - the clouds were low and hairy...like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.

Birches - the iced branches shed "crystal shells"

October - Enchant the land with amethyst

Good Hours - the cottages up to their shining eyes in snow

Auditory imagery - represents a sound (Go back to table)

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - the rumbling .. of load on load of apples coming in.

Mowing - the scythe whispering to the ground

The Runaway - the miniature thunder... the clatter of stone

An Old Man's Winter Night - the roar of trees, the crack of branches, beating on a box

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - the sweep of easy wind and downy flake

Olfactory imagery - a smell

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - Essence of winter sleep in on the night, the scent of apples

Note: just the mention of "the scent of apples" does not make it an image, but when connected to

"essence of winter sleep" the scent gains vividness.

To Earthward - musk from hidden grapevine springs

Out, Out - the sticks of wood "sweet scented stuff"

Unharvested - A scent of ripeness from over a wall...smelling the sweetness in no theft.

To a Young Wretch - the boy takes the tree and heads home, "smelling green"

Gustatory imagery - a taste

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - although not specifically mentioned, the taste of the apples is implied

To Earthward - I craved strong sweets ...now no joy but lacks salt

Blueberries - the blueberries as big as your thumb...with the flavor of soot

A Record Stride - the walking boots that taste of Atlantic and Pacific salt

The Exposed Nest - A haying machine passes over a bird nest without "tasting flesh"

Tactile imagery - touch, for example hardness, softness, wetness, heat, cold ...(table)

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - the fruit to "Cherish in hand"

Moon Compasses - "So love will take between the hands a face.."

The Death of the Hired Man - Mary touches the harplike morning-glory strings and plays some tenderness.

The Witch of Coos - the bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes snow

On Going Unnoticed - You grasp the bark by a rugged pleat,/ And look up small from the forest's feet.

Organic imagery - internal sensation: hunger, thirst, fatigue, fear

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - My instep arch not only keeps the ache, It keeps the pressure of a ladder round

Storm Fear - My heart owns a doubt, It costs no inward struggle not to go

Birches - It's when I'm weary of considerations/ And life is too much like a pathless wood, etc

The White-Tailed Hornet - "To stab me in the sneeze-nerve of a nostril"

Spring Pools - the trees drinking up the pools and along with it, the flowers

Kinesthetic imagery - movement or tension ....(table)

 

Examples:

After Apple-Picking - "I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend."
Bereft - Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,/ Blindly struck at my knee and missed.

Ghost House - the black bats tumble and dart

A Late Walk - the whir of sober birds, is sadder than any words

Once by the Pacific: "Shattered water ...Great waves looked over others coming in,"

 

 

 

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