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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 Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—Olive and Tan:
Porter uses rich imagery and a subtle simile in this passage to deepen Miranda’s emotional perception of Adam and to foreshadow the darkness that lies ahead in Pale Horse, Pale Rider:
Miranda smiled at him gaily because she was always delighted at the sight of him. He was wearing his new uniform, and he was all olive and tan and tawny, hay colored and sand colored from hair to boots. She half noticed again that he always began by smiling at her; that his smile faded gradually; that his eyes became fixed and thoughtful as if he were reading in a poor light.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Blue Mist:
Porter often uses the natural environment to signal emotional and narrative shifts in Pale Horse, Pale Rider. A brief but potent instance of such imagery appears as Adam leaves Miranda’s home:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Adam stepping out of the house in the early darkness into the blue mist that might soon be rain.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Imagined Geographies:
Imagery in Pale Horse, Pale Rider often arises through Miranda’s inner vision—hallucinations, memories, and longing—all of which allow her to retreat from the physical and emotional pressures of her immediate surroundings. One such passage occurs as Miranda, lying feverish and unmoored in her sickbed, mentally escapes into imagined landscapes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I wish I were in the cold mountains in the snow, that’s what I should like best; and all about her rose the measured ranges of the Rockies wearing their perpetual snow, their majestic blue laurels of cloud, chilling her to the bone with their sharp breath. Oh, no, I must have warmth—and her memory turned and roved after another place she had known first and loved best, that now she could see only in drifting fragments of palm and cedar, dark shadows and a sky that warmed without dazzling, as this strange sky had dazzled without warming her.
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