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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
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—The Grotesque Mouth:
When Egaeus sees Berenice smile for the first time, he begins to develop an unhealthy fixation on her teeth. While the rest of her body—her hair, her eyes, her very skin—rapidly succumbs to her illness, Berenice’s teeth remain the same: strong, white, and healthy. The story highlights the importance of this first glimpse and its effect on Egaeus through the use of vivid imagery:
The teeth!—the teeth!—they were here, and there, and everywhere, and visibly and palpably before me; long, narrow, and excessively white, with the pale lips writhing about them, as in the very moment of their first terrible development.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Sickly Woman:
As Berenice deteriorates due to the progression of her disease, Egaeus fixates on her devolving appearance:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The forehead was high, and very pale, and singularly placid; and the once jetty hair fell partially over it, and overshadowed the hollow temples with innumerable ringlets, now of a vivid yellow, and jarring discordantly, in their fantastic character, with the reigning melancholy of the countenance. The eyes were lifeless, and lustreless, and seemingly pupilless, and I shrank involuntarily from their glassy stare to the contemplation of the thin and shrunken lips.
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