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Hyperbole
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
Part 1, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Rain:
Imagery related to rain appears over and over again as a motif in Jude the Obscure, emphasizing the way the world around Jude tries to cast him down, dampen his spirit, and subvert his efforts. In Part 1, Chapter 3, the young Jude feels downcast by the rain in Marygreen and considers that it can’t possibly be as bad in the “City of Colleges”:
In sad wet seasons, though he knew it must rain at Christminster too, he could hardly believe that it rained so drearily there.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Christminster:
The university town of Christminster is a "golden city" to Jude Fawley in Hardy's novel, often described using the visual imagery of jewels and precious metals. The first time that Jude searches for it from a distance in Part 1, Chapter 3, he sees that:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Some way within the limits of the stretch of landscape, points of light like the topaz gleamed. The air increased in transparency with the lapse of minutes, till the topaz points showed themselves to be the vanes, windows, wet roof slates, and other shining spots upon the spires, domes, freestone-work, and varied outlines that were faintly revealed. It was Christminster, unquestionably; either directly seen, or miraged in the peculiar atmosphere
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Obscurity :
In Jude the Obscure Hardy foreshadows his characters' hopeless prospects through the visual imagery of darkness "obscuring" the world. For example, in Part 4, Chapter 3, Mr. Phillotson returns from teaching to his cold home with Sue. He gazes blankly out of the window at the Vale of Blackmoor, a wide and spacious valley:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] pressing his face against the pane, gazed with hard-breathing fixity into the mysterious darkness which now covered the far-reaching scene.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—A Withering Blast:
Hardy employs a simile in Part 3, Chapter 7 to describe how receiving the official news of Sue's engagement to Richard Phillotson affects Jude. Upon hearing this devastating information, he is shaken about as if by a gust of wind, "withered" with disappointment:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tidings from Sue a day or two after passed across Jude like a withering blast.
Related Themes:
Part 4, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Obscurity :
In Jude the Obscure Hardy foreshadows his characters' hopeless prospects through the visual imagery of darkness "obscuring" the world. For example, in Part 4, Chapter 3, Mr. Phillotson returns from teaching to his cold home with Sue. He gazes blankly out of the window at the Vale of Blackmoor, a wide and spacious valley:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] pressing his face against the pane, gazed with hard-breathing fixity into the mysterious darkness which now covered the far-reaching scene.
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Rain:
Imagery related to rain appears over and over again as a motif in Jude the Obscure, emphasizing the way the world around Jude tries to cast him down, dampen his spirit, and subvert his efforts. In Part 1, Chapter 3, the young Jude feels downcast by the rain in Marygreen and considers that it can’t possibly be as bad in the “City of Colleges”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In sad wet seasons, though he knew it must rain at Christminster too, he could hardly believe that it rained so drearily there.
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Maiden Blushes:
Hardy uses the visual imagery of things reddening as a motif. In Part 6, Chapter 6 Arabella tries to pass off her “spirituous crimson” (a red flush from drinking too much) as nothing more than a “maiden blush”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+‘Well, we’ve been waiting for certain legal hours to arrive, to tell the truth, ’ she continued bashfully, and making her spirituous crimson look as much like a maiden blush as possible. ‘Jude and I have decided to make up matters between us by tying the knot again, as we find we can’t do without one another after all. So, as a bright notion, we agreed to sit on till it was late enough, and go and do it off-hand.’
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Obscurity :
In Jude the Obscure Hardy foreshadows his characters' hopeless prospects through the visual imagery of darkness "obscuring" the world. For example, in Part 4, Chapter 3, Mr. Phillotson returns from teaching to his cold home with Sue. He gazes blankly out of the window at the Vale of Blackmoor, a wide and spacious valley:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] pressing his face against the pane, gazed with hard-breathing fixity into the mysterious darkness which now covered the far-reaching scene.
Related Themes:
