Imagery A

Consider:

The many men, so beautiful

And they all dead did lie:

And a thousand thousand slimy things

Lived on; and so did I.

Within the shadow of the ship

I watched their rich attire:

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,

They coiled and swam; and every track

Was a flash of golden fire. 

---   Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Discuss:    

These stanzas from the “the Rime of the Ancient Mariner” show the Mariner’s changing attitude toward the creatures of the sea. What is the Marine’s attitude in the first stanza? What image reveals this attitude? The image, “thousand thousand slimy things” reveals the narrators tone of disgust toward the sea creatures. The connotation of the slimy things, “monsters, etc.”, would disgust or appall a person. Thus creating a clear attitude of disgust.

What is the Mariner’s attitude in the second stanza? Analyze the imagery that reveals this change. The narrators tone turns from disgust to fanasation and awe as he watches the sea creatures more carefully. The motion of the creatures which coil and swam with flashes of golden fire fasanates the narrator an fill him with a sense of awe.

Apply:

Think of a pet you can describe easily. First, write a description, which reveals a positive attitude toward the animal. Then think of the same animal and write a description which reveals a negative attitude. Remember that the animal’s looks do not change, only your attitude changes. Use imagery rather than explanation to create your descriptions. My dog sammy was running through the cold wind as his golden hair flew through the air and made loud barks that sound like a train coming.

As I was through the door, I hear a monster, coming for me like the monster in cloverfield. He came running towards me leading a path of destruction and jumps on top of me and starts liking my face with his slimy tongue and toxic breath.

Imagery B

Consider:

And now nothing but drums, a battery of drums, the conga drums jamming out, in a descarga, and the drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell. There’s rain drums, like pitter-patter but a hundred times faster, and then slamming-the-door-drums and dropping-the-bucket drums, kicking-the-car-fender-drums. Then circus drums, then coconuts falling-out-of-the-trees-and-thumping-against-the-ground drums, then lion-skin drums, then the wacking-of-a-hand-against-a-wall-drums, the-beating-of-a-pillow-drums, heavy-stones-against-a-wall-drums, then the thickest-forest-tree-trunks-pounding-drums, and then the-mountain-rumble-drums, then the little-birds-learning-to-fly drums and the big-birds-alighting-on-a-rooftop-and-fanning-their-immense-wings drums…

- Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Discuss:

Read the passage. How does Hujuelos create the auditory imagery of drumming? In other words, how do the words imitate the sounds they represent? Through the use of onomatopoeia.

Hujuelos repeats the word then eight times in the passage. What does this repetition contribute to the auditory image of the drumming? He make there seem like a feeling of constant movement happening.

Apply:

Write a paragraph in which you capture two different sounds at a sporting event. In your paragraph try to imitate sounds themselves with your words. Don’t worry about correct grammar. Instead focus on creating a vivid auditory image.  You will read this in class. In a game of Hockey, I hear the sounds of rollerblades whizzing across the rink. The sounds of hockey sticks crashing togther or smashing the tiny rubber hockey puck.

Imagery C

Consider:

She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.

Discuss:

Although the narrator “looks into the distance,” the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory images in the passage? What mood do these images create?

Mainly all of the things she heard like her fathers voice. It creates a mood of calmness.

The last sentence of this passage contains an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks full the air). What effect does the use of an olfactory image, after the series of auditory images, have on the reader? It makes you feel more like your there then your just reading it.

Apply:

Write a passage in which you create a scene through auditory imagery. The purpose of your paragraph is to create a calm, peaceful mood. Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by auditory imagery

I walk through the busy city gazing into the sky. A tow truck honking its loud horn, voices ordering at a local drive through, and the slight chirping of the birds in that tree.

Imagery D

Consider:

It was a mine town, uranium most recently. Dust devils whirled sand off the mountains. Even after the heaviest of rains, the water seeped back into the ground, between stones, and the earth was parched again.

              -Linda Hogan, “Making Do”

Discuss:

What feelings do you associate with images of dusty mountains and dry earth?

A feeling of stress or of slightly of fatigue.

 These are two images associated with land in the third sentence. Identify the two images and compare and contrast the feelings these images evoke.

Dust devils whirling sand of the mountain and the water seeping back into the ground. They both create a feeling of being outdoors but at the same time one make you feel more tense than the other.

 Apply:

Write a sentence describing a rainstorm using imagery that produces a positive response; then write a sentence describing a rainstorm with imagery that produces a negative response. Share your sentences with the class. Briefly discuss how the images create the positive and negative response.

I gazed up at the endless sky of grey and at the thousands of gallons of water falling gently on my face. The temped air mixed with the cold water, turns into an excellent walking environment.

Grey. Thousands upon thousands of mile of Grey is all that is visible to me. Its as if your walking through an abyss with the feeling of isolation and almost suffocation.