Creative Writing Imagery as a general term covers the use of language to represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, states of mind and any sensory experience. It is a figurative language used to appeal to the senses through vivid descriptive language. Imagery creates mental the reader as they read the text. Example of Imagery The night was black as ever, but bright stars lit up the sky in beautiful and varied constellations which were sprinkled across the astronomical landscape. Imagery using visuals Example of Imagery Silence was broken by the peal of piano keys as Shannon began practicing her concerto. Imagery using sounds Example of Imagery She smelled the scent of sweet hibiscus wafting through the air, its tropical smell a reminder that she was on vacation in a beautiful place. Imagery using scent Example of Imagery The candy melted in her mouth and swirls of bittersweet chocolate and slightly sweet but salty caramel blended together on her tongue. Imagery using taste Example of Imagery After the long run, he collapsed in the grass with tired and burning muscles. The grass tickled his skin and sweat cooled on his brow. Imagery using touch The Importance of Using Imagery Because we experience life through our senses, a strong composition should appeal to them through the use of imagery. Descriptive imagery launches the reader into the experience of a warm spring day, scorching hot summer, crisp fall, or harsh winter. It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters and narrators as they imagine having the same sense experiences. Imagery commonly helps build compelling poetry, convincing narratives, Diction refers to the selection of words in a literary work. A work’s diction forms its centrally important literary elements as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values. It includes the formality of the language, the content, the imagery, the specificity, sounds of the words. Example “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that East doth hold.” - Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” Figures of Speech Figures of speech are words or phrases used in a non-literal sense for rhetorical or vivid effect. 1. Simile a stated comparison (formed with “like” or “as” between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common. “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” – Langston Hughes, “Harlem” 2. Metaphor an implied comparison between two unlike things that have something in common. • Her smiling face is the sun. • His temper was a hurricane whipping through the school, scaring his classmates. 3. Onomatopoeia uses words that imitate sounds associated with objects or actions. • The fire crackled and popped. • She rudely slurped and gulped down her soup. • The pigs happily oinked when the 4. Personification Personification provides animals and objects with human-like characteristics. • The wind whistled and hissed through the stormy night. • The ocean waves slapped the shore and whispered in a fizz as they withdrew again. 5. Apostrophe Is addressing an absent person or thing that is an abstract, inanimate, or inexistent character. • Oh, rose, how sweet you smell and how bright you look! • “Death be not proud, though some have called thee.” 6. Hyperbole A figure of speech which contains an exaggeration for emphasis. • He has a pea‒sized brain. • “To make enough noise to wake the dead.” ‒R. Davies, “What’s Bred in the Bone” 7. Synecdoche a figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole, and thus something else is understood within the thing mentioned. • The farmer needed to bring on some hired hands. • Let's take my new wheels out for a spin. • “Give us this day our daily bread.” 8. Metonymy a figure of speech in which the name of an attribute or a thing is substituted for the thing itself. • If you want I can give you a hand. (‘hand’ has replaced ‘help’) • “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” – William Shakespeare, 9. Oxymoron a figure of speech which combines incongruous and apparently contradictory words and meanings for a special effect. • This is another fine mess you have got us into. • Suddenly the room filled with a 10. Paradox – a statement which seems on its face to be logically contradictory or absurd yet turns out to be interpretable in a way that makes sense. • Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes (Pearl Bailey) • War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. (George Activity 1. Outside Looking In. 6. “Even at night time, Mama is sunrise.” (Hunt) 7. “The western wave was all a-flame. The day was well nigh done!” (Coleridge) 8. “A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with…” (Lee) 9. “…the glish of squirting taps plus slush of foam knocked off and a faint piddle of drops...” (e.e. cummings) 10. “Fall had barely touched the full splendor of trees…” (Knowles) Activity 1. Outside Looking In. Directions: Below are excerpts from different literary texts. Identify what figure of speech is exemplified in each number. Choose your answer from the box. Simile Personification Synecdoche Paradox Metaphor Apostrophe Metonymy Onomatopoeia Hyperbole Oxymoron 1. “Ebony and ivory / Live together in perfect harmony” (McCartney & Wonder) 2. “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!” (Shakespeare) 3. “Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes Whom envy hath immured within your walls” (Shakespeare) 4. “He watches from his mountain walls, and like a thunderbolt he falls.” (Tennyson) 5. “That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me.” (Donne) 6. “Even at night time, Mama is sunrise.” (Hunt) 7. “The western wave was all a-flame. The day was well nigh done!” (Coleridge) 8. “A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with…” (Lee) 9. “…the glish of squirting taps plus slush of foam knocked off and a faint piddle of drops...” (e.e. cummings) Activity 2. What is it like? Take a very careful look at the picture below. Write a brief paragraph of the place using imagery, diction, and figures of speech. You may incorporate an experience related to the location to make your literary description more vivid.
