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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 2, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Bloody Ducks:
In Part 2, Chapter 5, Carl watches as Emil and Marie hunt ducks. The narrator uses imagery to foreshadow Marie and Emil's violent, disappointing end:
When [Emil] came back, dangling the ducks by their feet, Marie held her apron and he dropped them into it. As she stood looking down at them, her face changed. She took up one of the birds, a rumpled ball of feathers with the blood dripping slowly from its mouth, and looked at the live color that still burned on its plumage.
Related Themes:
Part 4, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Pulling at the Chain:
In Part 4, Chapter 5, Marie learns about Amédée's illness and suddenly feels alone: she knows Emil could just as easily have gotten sick, but she can't take comfort at his side because her love for him is a secret. Marie wanders outside to get away from her house, and the narrator uses imagery to construct a metaphor describing her state of mind:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Marie stole slowly, flutteringly, along the path [...]. The years seemed to stretch before her like the land; spring, summer, autumn, winter, spring; always the same patient fields, the patient little trees, the patient lives; always the same yearning, the same pulling at the chain—until the instinct to live had torn itself and bled and weakened for the last time, until the chain secured a dead woman, who might cautiously be released. Marie walked on, her face lifted toward the remote, inaccessible evening star.
Related Themes:
Part 4, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Quiet Water:
In Part 4, Chapter 7, Frank finds Emil and Marie sleeping together where their families' properties meet. The narrator uses an imagery-packed simile to describe Frank's slow realization that his wife is cheating on him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In the warm, breathless night air he heard a murmuring sound, perfectly inarticulate, as low as the sound of water coming from a spring, where there is no fall, and where there are no stones to fret it.
Related Themes:
