Definition of Imagery
Key Examples in Daisy Miller
In the novella's exposition, the narrator offers the reader rich imagery of Vevay, a town that is firmly European but nevertheless brings American society to mind—at least in June, when it hosts a throng of American travelers. The narrator dwells on auditory imagery to demonstrate the town's American atmosphere:
There is a flitting hither and thither of ‘stylish’ young girls, a rustling of muslin flounces, a rattle of dance-music in the morning hours, a sound of high-pitched voices at all times.
In a passage that overflows with visual and olfactory imagery, the narrator uses oxymoron to describe the setting:
Unlock with LitCharts A+A few days after his brief interview with her mother, he encountered her in that beautiful abode of flowering desolation known as the Palace of the Cæsar. [...] He stood looking off at the enchanting harmony of line and color that remotely encircles the city, inhaling the softly humid odors, and feeling the freshness of the year and the antiquity of the place reaffirm themselves in mysterious interfusion.