Grendel
by John Gardner

Grendel: Imagery 1 key example

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 1
Explanation and Analysis—World's Weird Wall:

In Chapter 1, Grendel traipses through the moors, bemoaning that he is a "pointless, ridiculous monster." He wants to escape the "deadly progression" of his life in which he murders all manner of creatures, including many humans. Then, though, he arrives at the spot of a memorable murder of an old woman, which he recalls parenthetically in flowery language, including imagery, similes, and alliteration:

(It was just here, this shocking green, that once when the moon was tombed in clouds, I tore off sly old Athelgard’s head. Here, where the startling tiny jaws of crocuses snap at the late-winter sun like the heads of baby watersnakes, here I killed the old woman with the irongray hair. She tasted of urine and spleen, which made me spit. Sweet mulch for yellow blooms. Such are the tiresome memories of a shadow-shooter, earth-rim-roamer, walker of the world’s weird wall.)