Imagery+-+Poetry+1

=Imagery=

Imagery refers to the descriptive language used by authors/poets to evoke sensory experiences. Writers use sensory details to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste.
Imagery/language that pertains to sight. Visual imagery often evokes colors, shapes, relative sizes, and other things that can be seen to create a mental picture within the reader's mind. It is the most commonly used type of imagery.
 * __Visual Imagery__**


 * Ex:** "Love Songs In Age" by Philip Larkin

//The covers pleased her: One bleached from lying in a sunny place, One marked in circles by a vase of water, One mended, when a tidy fit had siezed her, And coloured, by her daughter -//

In the poem "Love Songs in Age", Philip Larkin uses visual imagery to conjure up distinct images of song covers. By describing each cover, Larkin allows the readers to draw upon their past experiences and clearly visualize each cover in their mind's eyes. Each description reflects a widely-shared experience: "a tidy fit", a document colored by a son or daughter, a ring of water left behind after lifting a mug or vase, a sun-bleached object. Larkin's descriptions not only evoke 'mental pictures' but also make the speaker's feelings toward the covers more tangible and accessible. Because we can relate to the descriptions of the covers, we experience the speaker's fondness towards the covers: loved objects that have been altered by the ordinary passings of life. Thus, it is through Larkin's visual imagery that "Love Songs In Age" conjures up clear images that evoke feelings of love and tenderness.

__**Olfactory Imagery**__ Imagery/language that pertains to the sense of smell. Because the English language has a limited vocabulary for odors, olfactory imagery often relies on comparison in order to indicate quality ("like a rose") and intensity ("strong enough to make my eyes water"). Olfactory imagery is frequently associated with strong memories, either pleasant or traumatic.


 * Ex:** "The Whitsun Weddings" by Philip Larkin

//A hothouse flashed uniquely: hedges dipped And rose: and now and then a smell of grass Dispaced the reek of button carriage-cloth//

Philip Larkin uses olfactory imagery in "The Whitsun Weddings" to contrast the stuffy carriage against the free open countryside. He describes the smell of the button carriage-cloth with the word "reek", which is a malodorous smell. Thus, the readers fully experience and understand the reprieve that the "smell of grass" provides the speaker. Instead of describing the exact smell of grass, Larkin relies on the readers to make the link from memory to smell, which allows readers more freedom of imagination; each reader may have different emotions associated with the smell of grass.