Imagery uses sensory details to create a vivid and concrete description of a scene, object, person, or idea. It appeals to the reader’s senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell, and is used to create a specific mood or atmosphere in a literary work. By using descriptive language, similes, metaphors, and other literary techniques, imagery helps the reader to visualize and experience the story in a more immersive way
Examples of imagery:
“She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes” – This stanza from Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” uses imagery to create a visual picture of the woman’s beauty and the contrast between light and dark.
“I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils” – This stanza from William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” uses imagery to describe the scene of a field of daffodils.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly” – This stanza from “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae uses imagery to describe the scene of a war-torn battlefield.
“The leaves of the oak trees were turning russet and gold, and the light filtering through them was dappled and soft. The air was cool and fragrant with the scent of woodsmoke and fallen leaves.” – This sentence from “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee uses imagery to describe the autumn setting and create a mood of nostalgia and warmth.