Imagery
Imagery has a variety of meanings. Its applications range all the way from the 'mental pictures' which, it is sometimes claimed, are experienced by the reader of a poem, to the totality of the components which make up a poem. Three discriminable uses of the word, however, are especially frequent; in all these senses imagery is said to make poetry concrete, as opposed to abstract.
1) 'Imagery' is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the vehicles (the secondary references) of its similes and metaphors. 'Imagery' in this usage includes not only visual sense qualities, but also qualities that are auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinaesthetic (sensations of movement).
2) Imagery is used, more narrowly, to signify only specific descriptions of visible objects and scenes, especially if the description is vivid.
3) Recently, imagery has come to signify figurative language, especially the vehicles of metaphors and similes. Imagery in this sense, is the essential component of poetry, and is a major factor in poetic meaning, structure and effect.
1) 'Imagery' is used to signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the vehicles (the secondary references) of its similes and metaphors. 'Imagery' in this usage includes not only visual sense qualities, but also qualities that are auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinaesthetic (sensations of movement).
2) Imagery is used, more narrowly, to signify only specific descriptions of visible objects and scenes, especially if the description is vivid.
3) Recently, imagery has come to signify figurative language, especially the vehicles of metaphors and similes. Imagery in this sense, is the essential component of poetry, and is a major factor in poetic meaning, structure and effect.