Module 4 Lessons: Imagery | MoodleHUB 🎓

5. Imagery

Lesson 51

Imagery

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The language used in poetry is usually divided into two types, literal and figurative.

Literal language—or literal imagery—involves straightforward descriptions, generally accompanied by vivid descriptors. For example:

a bright, red rose
a clear and crisp moonlit night

Figurative language, on the other hand, involves an imaginative comparison of one thing to another, thereby creating associations and connotations in the reader's mind. For example:

The sun shone like a neon orange on the blanket of dawn.
Her eyes were two deep pools of sapphires.

The Importance of Imagery in Poetry

If poetry begins in sound, it thrives on imagery. The worth of any poet depends on the skill to create images that appeal strongly to the five senses of readers—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.

As you imagine the sensation of a kitten's tongue, the taste of ripe watermelon, the smell of the ocean's salt air, the sound of an ambulance siren, or the sight of thunderclouds in the sky, you enter the poet's imagined world.

Imagery communicates experience and invites the reader to share the experience by using language that appeals directly to the senses. Read the following poem and try not to see the word picture that is painted.

A single clear drop of dew
crawls slowly
down a red leaf
to the tip.
It pauses,
collects itself,
and swan dives into the air.

Chelsea: I tried not to see the word picture, but I couldn't help it! I saw that dewdrop so clearly in my mind as it dropped slowly down the red leaf—not just any leaf—a red one. I saw it!

Mr. Haas: Don't feel bad about not being able to ignore the imagery in the poem. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't seen it. Imagery is a powerful force. Imagery is one of the things that poets use to convey ideas and emotions to their audience.

Poets also describe things by making comparisons. These comparisons can add colour and richness to a poem, but they require the audience to slow down and think about the significance of the comparison before the full effect of the description can be felt.

In the poem you just read about the dewdrop, the specific descriptions appeal to the senses immediately. If the poem had depended on complex comparison—metaphors and similes—it may still have been a beautiful poem, but it would not have communicated so directly.

Brandon: Doesn't the last line contain a comparison? It says that the dewdrop took a swan dive into the air.

Mr. Haas: Yes, it's a comparison between a dewdrop and a diver. These are two unlike things, and therefore it's a metaphor—or figurative language.

Lin: Can you explain again what the difference is between figurative language and literal imagery?

Mr. Haas: Imagery appeals directly to your five senses. You don't have to think or use your brain to get it. Figurative language involves creative comparisons between dissimilar things. To get it, you have to use your brain to find the similarities between the unlike things.

The image you've just read is a fairly simple one of a dewdrop falling from a leaf. Even the simplest images, though, provide a foundation upon which powerful poems can be built.

This poem does demonstrate how specific and concrete details—as opposed to general and abstract concepts—can affect seeing and imagining.

From Abstract to Specific

If you wish to communicate meaningfully, it's important to be specific. This is important at home when you're trying to organize a meal and it's even more so in a poem when you wish to share experiences or observations.

Lin: That sounds like my mother asking what I want for supper. When I say "anything," she tells me to get specific.

Mr. Haas: Language is the same. You have to make choices to connect with your reader. Here are two sentences. Which one communicates better?

• She paints colours.

• She paints large landscapes of pink snow-covered mountains framed against a backdrop of crimson sunsets.

Brandon: The second one. I can almost see the painting.

Mr. Haas: In a way, both sentences say the same thing. But could you see anything in the first sentence?

Chelsea: Not really. There is not enough detail.

If you use specific words that refer to precise details, you enable readers to share in the experience you're describing. There are various levels of specificity at which you can communicate, from extremely abstract to absolutely concrete. And each is appropriate at different times. Here are examples.

She likes to paint beauty.	abstract
She likes to paint beautiful scenes.	general
She likes to paint beautiful mountains.	specific
She likes to paint mountains at sunset.	detailed specific
She likes to paint snow-covered mountains at sunset.	concrete
She likes to oil paint large landscape scenes of pink snow-covered mountains framed against a backdrop of crimson sunsets.	absolutely concrete

You could also change the verb likes to be increasingly specific.

1. Now you try it. Using the previous example as a model, choose one of the following topics to write a series of six sentences that go from abstract to concrete:

cars
movies
food

Here are some suggestions to get you started:

With cars, your abstract could be something like transportation.
To frame your sentences, consider using verbs other than like.

For more information about effective word choices in your texts, including poems, view the segment "Strengthening Clarity and Imagery Though Appropriate Word Choices" on your English Language Arts 10-1 Multimedia Segments .

Imagery—More than Just Visual

Most students have no problem finding examples of imagery that appeal to the sense of sight. But remember that you've got five senses, and good writing will appeal to a variety of them.

The five senses are sometimes described as follows.

sight	visual imagery
hearing	aural imagery
taste	gustatory imagery
touch	tactile imagery
smell	olfactory imagery

Poets often appeal as well to the sensations of activities such as running and dancing. Such appeals are sometimes called kinesthetic imagery.

On page 389 of Sightlines 10, you'll find a poem, "On an Exhibition of Paintings by Mary Pratt" written by Elizabeth Brewster. Read the poem over carefully several times. Each time you do, focus on the images that you see and the other senses that are appealed to. Then read the discussion that the class has on this poem.

Brandon: Who was Mary Pratt? I could tell that she was a painter from the poem and from the painting on page 390. But is she famous in any way?

Mr. Haas: She was born in New Brunswick in 1935, and she is considered one of the greatest realistic painters in Canada. She has been extremely successful as an artist with many exhibitions all over Canada.

Chelsea: I looked her up on the Internet and saw several of her paintings. She's very good. Her paintings are like photographs—only better and brighter.

Lin: But why bother to paint ketchup bottles and raw fish?

Mr. Haas: Isn't that one of the points made in the poem? Men tend to paint certain subjects and women others. According to the poem, what do men paint?

Reread the poem on page 389 and answer Mr. Haas' question before reading on.

Dominic: Men paint bread, sunflowers, bowls of fruit, wine bottles, wheelbarrows, and railway tracks.

Mr. Haas: And according to the speaker, what do women paint?

Dominic: Jelly jars, bowls of whipped cream, ketchup bottles, raw fish, and wedding dresses. I don't get it.

Chelsea: All of these things are associated directly with real life. They may not be valued—like bread and wine and wheelbarrows—but they're important too.

Lin: I don't get why anyone would bother to paint something like a fruit bowl or a jelly jar. Aren't there more important things to paint?

Mr. Haas: These are called still-life paintings. A still life is any artwork featuring inanimate objects. Many famous painters have built reputations on such works. People seem to be fascinated by ordinary, everyday things—especially if caught in a special light. Such paintings tell us about ourselves. They're like slices of life, snapshots of what we find beautiful or fulfilling.

Lin: Maybe so, but I would rather see people and living things in paintings.

2. Work with a partner or group. Each person needs to make a list of everything he or she sees in the painting shown on page 390 of Sightlines 10.

Share your list with your partner or group. In what ways are the lists similar? In what ways are they different?

Did You Know?

Did you know that Mary Pratt has many websites dedicated to her? For example, at the following website, you'll find a number of her paintings that are sure to impress you with the beauty that she finds in everyday objects:

http://www.godardgallery.com/maryprat.htm

Late in life, Mary Pratt has taken to writing. Her daily routine begins with recording thoughts and feeling in her journal. Many of her journal entries have been published. In one entry, she admits that the journal is an extension of her painting. She puts into words what her paintbrush brings to life.

Mr. Haas: Did anybody notice any interesting word play in the poem?

Brandon: I did, but I dismissed it right away because I thought that I was reading too much into things.

Mr. Haas: What did you see?

Brandon: Well, in the last two lines there is a mention of still life. I had trouble reading it at first because it can be read two ways—"still life" as in a kind of painting or "there is still life," meaning "life is still there."

Mr. Haas: Do you think that the poet created this ambiguity intentionally?

Dominic: Probably. You've told us more than once that there are no coincidences and that good writers like to include ambiguity to make us think and to enable more possible interpretations.

Mr. Haas: You've learned your lesson well.

Writing an Imagist Poem

In Elizabeth Brewster's poem about Mary Pratt's exhibition of paintings, there is a reference to a red wheelbarrow. This reference, in all likelihood, is to a famous poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams (1883_1963). To some people, this poem is more vivid than any painting ever created.

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.¹

ï¿½2002 www.clipart.com

William Carlos Williams was a member of a group of poets called the imagists. They were quite active and popular around 1915 in the United States and Britain. Imagists didn't approve of ambiguous images. Their images had to be clear and crisp with no room for error on the part of the reader. Imagists insisted on being free to write about any subject they wanted, using free verse instead of structured rhyming verse.

The following is another poem by William Carlos Williams.

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold ²

©2002 www.clipart.com

The following is a parody of "The Red Wheelbarrow."

The Clean Blackboard

so little depends
upon

a clean black
board

wiped with soft
cloth

beside the white
chalk stick.

3. Write your own parody of "The Red Wheelbarrow" or "This Is Just to Say." Be sure that you follow the original model and that you only use literal imagery. Do not use any figurative devices, such as metaphors or similes.

For helpful comments, refer to the Suggested Answers section at the end of the lesson.

Going Further

Use the Internet or library resources to research the imagist poets.

Some of the more notable imagist poets were William Carlos Williams, Amy Lowell, and Ezra Pound.

You'll find that the poets led interesting lives and their poems are very accessible.

Journal Entry

In this module, you've read a variety of poems. Some express emotions; others tell stories about people in challenging situations. Some poems offer serious advice, and others amuse you. Some poems project images.

Reflect on the three poems that you've enjoyed the most so far. List your three poems, and for each describe what you liked about it. Which poem did you enjoy the least? Why?

In this lesson, you learned about the differences between literal imagery and figurative language. You then focused on imagery and practised writing sentences that ranged from the abstract to the concrete. You also learned about imagist poetry, and you were given the opportunity to write more poetry. You should by now have quite a collection of your original poetry. Hopefully, you've enjoyed the creative process and are beginning to think of yourself as a poet.

Lesson Glossary

imagery: mental pictures that appeal to the sense of sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, or movement
kinesthetic imagery: mental pictures that appeal to the sensations associated with movement
parody: a work that pokes fun at another work by imitating and exaggerating recognizable elements of it