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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
Key Examples in Mansfield Park
Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Tumultuous Feelings:
When Maria says goodbye to Henry for the last time before she marries Mr. Rushworth, the narrator captures Maria’s emotions via imagery:
She had not long to endure what arose from listening to language, which his actions contradicted, or to bury the tumult of her feelings under the restraint of society; for general civilities soon called his notice from her, and the farewell visit, as it then became openly acknowledged, was a very short one.—He was gone—he had touched her hand for the last time, he had made his parting bow, and she might seek directly all that solitude could do for her.
Related Themes:
Chapter 42
Explanation and Analysis—The Dancing Sea:
When Henry is visiting Fanny during her stay with her nuclear family in Portsmouth near the end of the novel, Austen uses imagery and personification to capture the scene in front of them, as well as Fanny’s emotional state:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The day was uncommonly lovely. It was really March; but it was April in its mild air, brisk soft wind, and bright sun, occasionally clouded for a minute; and every thing looked so beautiful under the influence of such a sky, the effects of the shadows pursuing each other, on the ships at Spithead and the island beyond, with the ever-varying hues of the sea now at high water, dancing in its glee and dashing against the ramparts with so fine a sound, produced altogether such a combination of charms for Fanny, as made her gradually almost careless of the circumstances under which she felt them.
Related Themes:
Chapter 46
Explanation and Analysis—Sickness and Shudderings:
When Fanny is digesting the news that Henry and Maria had an affair immediately after he visited Fanny to prove his devotion to her, Austen uses imagery to capture her shock and horror:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Fanny seemed to herself never to have been shocked before. There was no possibility of rest. The evening passed, without a pause of misery, the night was totally sleepless. She passed only from feelings of sickness to shudderings of horror; and from hot fits of fever to cold. The event was so shocking, that there were moments even when her heart revolted from it as impossible—when she thought it could not be.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Oppressive Portsmouth:
When Fanny is visiting her family in Portsmouth near the end of the novel, Austen uses imagery to capture her unhappiness:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There was neither health nor gaiety in sun-shine in a town. She sat in a blaze of oppressive heat, in a cloud of moving dust; and her eyes could only wander from the walls marked by her father’s head, to the table cut and knotched by her brothers, where stood the tea-board never thoroughly cleaned, the cups and saucers wiped in streaks, the milk a mixture of motes floating in thin blue, and the bread and butter growing every minute more greasy than even Rebecca’s hands had first produced it.
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