What if?
SWP
CRAFT PAUSE 10
IMAGERY G E T S A L I T T L E H E L P F R O M
ITS FRIENDS
MARY LADD WATTS
What if you could not smell?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOVMdGS5A3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOVMdGS5A3U
Audience Response
 What if you lost one of your five senses?
 Which would it be?
 Why?
What is Imagery?
 Image is a word, phrase, or figure of speech
(especially SIMILE or METAPHOR) that addresses
the senses, suggesting mental pictures of…
Sights
Sounds
Smells
Feelings
Tastes
Actions
Imagery
 Imagery offers sensory impressions to the reader and
also conveys emotions and moods through verbal
pictures.
 The use of description that helps the reader imagine
how something looks, sounds, feels, smells, or tastes.
Most of the time, it refers to appearance.
Imagery in Action
“What I take from writers I like is their economy -- the ability to
use language to very effective ends. The ability to have
somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint
an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of
words -- that`s magical. That`s what I`ve been trying to strive
for -- to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension”—
Mos Def
“Every time I get a script it`s a matter of trying to know what I
could do with it. I see colors, imagery. It has to have a smell.
It`s like falling in love. You can`t give a reason why.”
--Paul Newman
“I liked the name Frog Brigade because it lent itself to a lot of
cool imagery with the whole frog thing.” –Les Claypool
Figuratively Speaking
 Simile-Comparison between two unlike
things using like or as
Example: One swig from the coffee I brew is like a jolt
of lightning through your body. -Ms. Watts
 Metaphor-Comparison between two unlike
things WITHOUT using “like” or “as”
Example: Shakespeare’s Macbeth-“Out, out, brief
candle! Life's but a walking shadow…”
Painting with PERSONIFICATION
 Personification-when an inanimate object is
given human characteristics
Example: Ted Kooser “Abandoned Farmhouse”
“He was a big man, says the size of his shoes/on a pile
of broken dishes by the house;/ a tall man too, says
the length of the bed/ in an upstairs room; and a
good, God-fearing man,/ says the Bible with a
broken back…”
The Sounds of Science
 Onomatopoeia-a term referring to the use of
a word that resembles or the sounds it
denotes
Examples: Peter Meinke “The Cranes”-“They leaned
forward in the car, and the shower curtain spread
over the front seat CRAKLEd and HISSed.
Gummy Bears Bouncing Here and There

Sight: Walking through the candy aisle I catch a glimpse of a clear shiny plastic bag with a
rainbow of colors burning through the package. “What is it?” At that very moment I spot the
child like face of the Gummy Bear leader. His smiling face betrays the fact that he knows a
tragic and gruesome decapitation awaits him, followed closely by a reuniting of his head with a
body of one of his different colored brethren. Like a Frankenstein monster.
Sound: Ripping open the bag causes a resonance like a large cop bending over to grab the last
crumb of his doughnut and splitting open his trousers. The sound of chewing the Gummy Bear
brings to mind the sloppy noise of a horse tromping through a mud hole. Tearing his tiny face
from his little bear body I can hear a tendon snap. Pop!
Smell: After the familiar ripping sound of the bag my olfactory system is bombarded with
the sickly sweet smell of fruit trees in blossom. One smell, however, rises above the rest. That
aroma is similar to a freshly peeled lemon.
Touch: Touching a Gummy Bear is something you don’t easily forget. The sticky smooth
texture is like an overheated ball of wax, or with a little stretch of the imagination, a steamy
bathroom mirror.
Taste: The most dramatic sense that a Gummy Bear stimulates is taste. The super-sweet, fresh
fruit flavor practically explodes my tongue. And this might sound weird, but I can taste the
Gummy part, it is like flavorless gum, or like eating Jell-o when you have a cold. Eating them as
a teenager I can taste the fun and adventure of childhood Gummy Bear wars between the warm
and cool colored bear armies, and I need the flavor to remind me.
Immersion Activity # 1 Imagery’s Flavor
Use your 5 senses to make notations:
What does the smell remind you of?
What does it taste like?
What memory do you see?
What actions do you notice?
What sensations do you feel?
What do you hear?
Immersion Activity # 2 Speak Figuratively
 Use only simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, or
personification to describe the imagery of what just
happened to your five senses.
A Mixture of Mentors
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“A Rose for Emily” –William Faulkner
“The Cranes” Peter Meinke
“Roselily” Alice Walker
“How to Tell a True War Story” Tim O’Brien
“A Good Man is Hard to Find” Flannery O’Conner
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark William Shakespeare
“Girl” Jamaica Kincaid
“The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin
“Killings” AndreDuBus
Hard Times Charles Dickins
“A Sorrowful Woman” Gail Goodwin
“The Lady with the Pet Dog” Anton Chekov
“The Lady with the Pet Dog” Joyce Carol Oates
“Popular Mechanics” Raymond Carver
“Saving Sourdi” May-Lee Chai
Anything written by Edgar Allen Poe : )
“Wilderness” and “Chicago” or anything else by Carl Sandburg
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier Ishmael Beah
“ Smell” Diane Ackermen
“The Veldt” Ray Bradbury
“100 Miles an Hour, Upside Down and Sideways” Rick Bragg
Course Competencies & Objectives
 I. Define and apply correctly the literary terms of
short fiction, poetry, and drama
1. use terms correctly in class discussions
2. use terms correctly in writing assignments
 II. Analyze works of literature and present those
analyses
1. write an original analysis of a work of literature
2. participate in discussions focused on analyzing
literary works
3. present valid answers to analytical test questions