Imagery

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Imagery" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Imagery is

figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying tone. ^[1]

Forms

There are five major types of sensory imagery, each corresponding to a sense, feeling, action, or reaction:

Visual imagery pertains to graphics, visual scenes, pictures, or the sense of sight.

Auditory imagery pertains to sounds, noises, music, or the sense of hearing. (This kind of imagery may come in the form of onomatopoeia).
Olfactory imagery pertains to odors, aromas, scents, or the sense of smell.
Gustatory imagery pertains to flavors or the sense of taste.
Tactile imagery pertains to physical textures or the sense of touch.

Other types of imagery include:

Kinesthetic imagery pertains to movements.
Organic imagery / subjective imagery, pertains to personal experiences of a character's body, including emotion and the senses of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and pain.^[2]
Phenomenological, pertains to the mental conception of an item as opposed to the physical version.
Color imagery is the ability to visualize a color in its absence.

References

^ Malewitz, Raymond (8 November 2019). "What is Imagery?". Definitions and Examples. Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms. Oregon State School of Writing, Literature and Film. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
^ "Poetics of Robert Frost: Examples". Friends of Robert Frost. Archived from the original on 2013-05-04. Retrieved 12 March 2013.

External links

"Imagery and Imagination". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Thomas, Nigel J.T (Winter 2011), "Mental Imagery", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, retrieved February 16, 2012
Belyaev, Igor A. (2020), "Human-sizedness as a principle of existance [sic] for literary-artistic image, Proceedings of the Philological Readings (PhR 2019), EPSBS European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, London, 19–20 September 2019, pp. 560–567.
What is Imagery?: Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms

v t e Narrative
Character	Antagonist Archenemy Character arc Character flaw Characterization Confidant Deuteragonist False protagonist Focal character Foil Gothic double Hamartia Hero Anti Byronic Tragic Narrator Protagonist Stock character Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain
Plot	Ab ovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict Deus ex machina Dialogue Dramatic structure Eucatastrophe Foreshadowing Flashback Flashforward Frame story In medias res Kishōtenketsu MacGuffin Pace Plot device Plot twist Poetic justice Red herring Reveal Self-insertion Shaggy dog story Stereotype Story arc Story within a story Subplot Suspense Trope
Setting	Alternate history Backstory Crossover Dreamworld Dystopia Fictional location city country universe parallel Utopia Worldbuilding
Theme	Irony Leitmotif Metaphor Moral Moral development Motif Deal with the Devil Conflict between good and evil Self-fulfilling prophecy Time travel
Style	Allegory Bathos Comic relief Diction Figure of speech Imagery Mode Mood Narration Narrative techniques Hook Show, don't tell Stylistic device Suspension of disbelief Symbolism Tone
Structure	Act Act structure Three-act structure Freytag's Pyramid Exposition/Protasis Rising action/Epitasis Climax/Peripeteia Falling action/Catastasis Denouement/Catastrophe Linear narrative Nonlinear narrative films television series Premise Types of fiction with multiple endings
Form	Drama Fabliau Flash fiction Folklore Fable Fairy tale Legend Myth Tall tale Gamebook Narrative poetry Epic poetry Novel Novella Parable Short story Vignette
Genre (List)	Autobiography Biography Fiction Action fiction Adventure Comic Crime Docu Epistolary Ergodic Erotic Historical Mystery Nautical Paranoid Philosophical Picaresque Political Pop culture Psychological Religious Rogue Romance Chivalric Prose Saga Satire Speculative fiction Fantasy Gothic Southern Horror Magic realism Science Hard Superhero Theological Thriller Urban Western Nonfiction Novel Creative
Narration	Diegesis First-person Second-person Third-person Third-person omniscient narrative Subjectivity Unreliable narrator Multiple narrators Stream of consciousness Stream of unconsciousness
Tense	Past Present Future
Related	Dominant narrative Fiction writing Continuity Canon Reboot Retcon Parallel novel Prequel / Sequel Genre List Literary science Literary theory Narrative identity Narrative paradigm Narrative therapy Narratology Metafiction Political narrative Rhetoric Glossary Screenwriting Storytelling Tellability Verisimilitude

v t e Figures of speech
Schemes	Alliteration Anadiplosis Anaphora Antimetabole Antithesis Aposiopesis Assonance Asyndeton Chiasmus Climax Anti Consonance Epanalepsis Epiphrase Epistrophe Epizeuxis Hendiadys Homeoteleuton Hypallage Hyperbaton Hysteron proteron Isocolon Parallelism Polyptoton Polysyndeton Spoonerism Symploce Tmesis Zeugma
Tropes	Allegory Allusion Antiphrasis Antonomasia Aphorism Apostrophe Catachresis Ecphonesis Ekphrasis Epanorthosis Hyperbole Adynaton Dysphemism Euphemism Meiosis Innuendo Irony Apophasis Sarcasm Litotes Metaphor Metonymy Oxymoron Personification Pleonasm Procatalepsis Pun Antanaclasis Rhetorical question Simile Synecdoche Tautology

This literature-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Forms

References

Further reading

External links