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Read the above poem. Do you find imagery?

Imagery is a literary device through which the poet gives a sensory experience. The poet makes use of images or pictures to achieve his intended purpose. These images are of many kinds.

·         Images of sight                             -   Visual Imagery

·         Images of hearing                        -   Auditory Imagery

·         Images of motion                        -   Motor Imagery

·         Images of touch                           -   Tactile Imagery

·         Images of heat and cold             -   Thermal Imagery

·         Images of taste                             -   Gustatory Imagery

·         Images of smell                            -    Olfactory Imagery

Robert Frost’s poem, “After Apple-picking” is a very fine example of Visual ,Olfactory, Tactile and Auditory images.

“The scent of apples: I am drowsing off”              -    Olfactory Image

“I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

   I got from looking through a pane of glass”         -     Visual Imagery

“Magnified apples appear and disappear”              -      Visual Imagery

“The rumbling sound of load on loads of apples coming in”     -   Auditory Image

“There were ten thousand thousand fruits to touch”

“Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall”                               -Tactile Imagery

Keats’ poem, “The Eve of St. Agnes” begins with the following Thermal Imagery:

“St. Agnes’ Eve—–Ah, bitter chill it was!”

Motor Imagery is well brought out in the following verse by Sarojini Naidu:

“Lightly O lightly we bear her along,

She sways like a flower in the wind of our song.”

Read the following poetic line for Gustatory Image:

“I taste a liquor never brewed” by Emily Dickinson.

Imagery can be called the life fluid of poetry.