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Idioms
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Waking Up in Florence:
The second chapter of A Room With a View begins with vivid imagery of Lucy's room and its view on her first morning in Italy. It is a colorful and charming description, reflecting Lucy's pleasure to be in Italy. Before this, the novel opens with Ms. Bartlett complaining about her and Lucy's lack of rooms with views. Throughout the rest of the first chapter, she and the other characters fret over the propriety of accepting Mr. Emerson and George's rooms. The reader sees very little of Italy and very much of the time period's various values in the novel's opening chapter; though it is central that they are in Italy, there is minimal imagery to back the setting up.
After the dialogue-heavy exposition, though, the opening of the second chapter provides a relieving shift, as it jumps straight into a detailed and happy description of the room:
It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles which look clean though they are not; with a painted ceiling whereon pink griffins and blue amorini sport in a forest of yellow violins and bassoons.
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Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Twinkling Arno:
In the third chapter, Lucy's view of Florence from the Pension once again assumes a central role in her character development and the novel's plot. Forster offers the reader vivid imagery of the Arno, this time in the evening:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Evening approached while they chatted; the air became brighter; the colours on the trees and hills were purified, and the Arno lost its muddy solidity and began to twinkle. There were a few streaks of bluish-green among the clouds, a few patches of watery light upon the earth, and then the dripping facade of San Miniato shone brilliantly in the declining sun.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—View Sloping Into Kiss:
At the end of the sixth chapter, Lucy walks through a wooded area with the Italian driver in search of Mr. Eager and Mr. Beebe, whom she has described as good men in Italian. The driver has misunderstood her, however, and is taking her to George. The moment in which Lucy stumbles onto the terrace results in an explosion of imagery, as the view opens up in front of her eyes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+From her feet the ground sloped sharply into the view, and violets ran down in rivulets and streams and cataracts, irrigating the hillside with blue, eddying round the tree stems, collecting into pools in the hollows, covering the grass with spots of azure foam. But never again were they in such profusion; this terrace was the well-head, the primal source whence beauty gushed out to water the earth.
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Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Sacred Lake:
In the twelfth chapter, Freddy, Mr. Beebe, and George Emerson go to the Sacred Lake for a swim. On their way there, Mr. Beebe makes a strenuous attempt to keep a conversation going with George. Their arrival at the Sacred Lake, which the narrator describes to the reader with rich imagery, offers the characters and reader relief from this stilted conversation.
Unlock with LitCharts A+They climbed down a slippery bank of pine-needles. There lay the pond, set in its little alp of green — only a pond, but large enough to contain the human body, and pure enough to reflect the sky. On account of the rains, the waters had flooded the surrounding grass, which showed like a beautiful emerald path, tempting the feet towards the central pool.
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