WHAT IS IMAGERY? WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF IMAGERY?

What is imagery? What are the different types of imagery?

      What is imagery? Imagery, in a literary text, is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to their work. It appeals to human senses to deepen the reader's understanding of the work. Powerful forms of imagery engage all of the senses. Imagery is language used by poets, novelists and other writers to create images in the mind of the reader. Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical language to improve the reader’s experience through their senses. In literature, one of the strongest devices is imagery wherein the author uses words and phrases to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. The usage of metaphors, allusions, descriptive words and similes amongst other literary forms in order to “tickle” and awaken the readers’ sensory perceptions is referred to as imagery. Imagery is not limited to only visual sensations, but also refers to igniting kinesthetic, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, thermal and auditory sensations as well. (Source:Wikipedia)


      What are the types of imagery? There are seven distinct types of imagery: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, kinesthetic and organic. Many of these deal with the five senses, which all work together to help us create mental images of whatever we are reading.

• Visual- Visual imagery appeals to the sense of sight, and plays the largest role in imagery in literature. It describes what a scene or character looks like. If an author writes something such as, “The deep blue hues of twilight were reflected in the still water; the slight glint of moonlight peeked through the clouds just enough to make out the silhouette of a passing ship”, the reader can imagine a still, ocean scene at twilight as if they were standing on the edge of the water themselves.
• Auditory- Auditory imagery describes specific sounds that are happening within the story. This can be something like, “The rooster crowed at early dawn, a sign that it was time to start the day. John woke up, listening to the quiet murmurs of his children in the kitchen below; the clang of pots and pans signaled that breakfast was almost ready”. Can you hear the rooster? Are you imagining the clanging of pots and pans? How does this auditory imagery assist in your overall mental image of the scene? Even though the imagery here describes particular sounds, I’m imagining a man waking up in a quaint room in a log house and a rooster crowing at sunrise over a bright green field.Auditory imagery could also appear in the form of onomatopoeia Words such as “bang!” “achoo!” “cacaw!” all work to describe sounds that most people are familiar with.
• Olfactory- Olfactory imagery describes a particular scent. Let’s say you’re about to bite into a warm, steaming plate of maple smoked bacon. How would that smell? An author may describe it as, “The sweet scent of maple wafted through the room, causing Stephanie to stop what she was doing and sniff the air. A second waft of scent carried the underlying smoky scent of bacon; a scent only bacon straight off the grill could have”. Is your mouth watering yet? Are you itching to get off of the computer and go cook up some bacon? Authors want you to be able to almost smell the scent coming off the pages. Describing the scent of a particular food can also help readers imagine how that food tastes, which brings us to the next type of imagery.
• Gustatory Gustatory imagery pertains to the sense of taste. Let’s say a fictional Jason is about to bite into a delicious cupcake, smothered in chocolate frosting. This experience may be described as, “Jason took one look at the cupcake in front of him and couldn’t wait another second – he stuffed it right into his mouth. The rich, sweet, sugary taste of chocolate ran over his taste buds as he chewed and swallowed the whole dessert in less than ten seconds”. I don’t know about you, but I’m really craving some chocolate now.
• Tactile Tactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch. The feeling of a nice fuzzy blanket on a cold night, the smooth underside of a snake, the rough texture of tree bark. Anything you can touch can be described through imagery. The description of a bare hand on a mound of snow could be described as, “Sarah placed her bare hand on the cold snow. It was wet at first, then the frigid cold set in like a thousand needles, all pricking her palm at once”.
• Kinesthetic These last two types of imagery extend beyond the five senses. Kinesthetic imagery deals with the movement or action of objects or people. An example of kinesthetic imagery could be, “The birds flapped their wings in excitement, the promise of food so close. They sprung out of the tree, one by one, soaring through the branches and swooping down low to the pile of berries beneath the tree”. The flapping of the wings and the description of the way the birds fly down towards the ground helps the reader create an accurate visual image of the scene.
• Organic Organic imagery is the most difficult form of imagery to write, because it deals with creating a specific feeling or emotion within the reader. Phrases that make the reader feel sad, fearful, nostalgic, elated, even lost are all extremely effective organic imagery.