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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 Paradise Lost
Book 3
Explanation and Analysis—God and His Throne:
In Book 3, when God appears for the first time, Milton describes him as a "fountain of light"—a rich instance of imagery that also includes a paradox:
Thee Father first they sung omnipotent,
Immutable, immortal, infinite,
Eternal King; thee Author of all being,
Fountain of light, thyself invisible
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sitt’st
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shad’st
The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud
Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear,
Yet dazzle Heav’n, that brightest Seraphim
Approach not, but with both wings veil their eyes.
Related Themes:
Book 4
Explanation and Analysis—Satan's Face:
In Book 4, as Satan travels from Hell to Paradise, disguised as a good angel, his face involuntarily changes expressions, revealing him to be a fallen angel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face
Thrice changed with pale, ire, envy and despair,
Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld.
For Heav’nly minds from such distempers foul
Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware,
Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm,
Artificer of fraud; and was the first
That practised falsehood under saintly show,
Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge...
Related Themes:
Book 5
Explanation and Analysis—Morning in Eden:
In Book 5, Adam awakes next to Eve in Eden, and their morning is described with rich imagery (as well as a few allusions):
Unlock with LitCharts A+Now Morn her rosy steps in th’ eastern clime
Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl,
When Adam waked, so customed, for his sleep
Was airy light, from pure digestion bred,
And temperate vapours bland, which th’ only sound,
Of leaves and fuming rills, Aurora’s fan,
Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song
Of birds on every bough; so much the more
His wonder was to find unwakened Eve
With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek,
As through unquiet rest: he on his side
Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamoured, and beheld
Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice
Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,
Her hand soft touching, whispered thus.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Morning in Eden:
In Book 5, before the Fall has yet occurred, Milton portrays morning in Eden, using personification at one point to describe the brilliance of the sun:
Unlock with LitCharts A+So all was cleared, and to the field they haste.
But first from under shady arborous roof,
Soon as they forth were come to open sight
Of day-spring, and the sun, who scarce up risen
With wheels yet hov’ring o’er the ocean brim,
Shot parallel to the earth his dewy ray,
Discovering in wide landscape all the east
Of Paradise and Eden’s happy plains...
Related Themes:
Book 7
Explanation and Analysis—Feminine Nature:
In Book 7, Raphael recounts to Adam and Eve how God created the world, using striking imagery and personification to depict the origins of the natural world, while also foreshadowing Eve's eventual fate:
Unlock with LitCharts A+...Let th’ earth
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,
And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind;
Whose seed is in herself upon the earth.
He scarce had said, when the bare earth, till then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned,
Brought forth the tender grass, whose verdure clad
Her universal face with pleasant green,
Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flow’red
Op’ning their various colours, and made gay
Her bosom smelling sweet: and these scarce blown
Forth flourished thick the clust’ring vine, forth crept
The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed
Embattled in her field...
Related Themes:
Book 10
Explanation and Analysis—Sin and Death's Bridge:
In Book 10, emboldened by Satan's success in Eden, Sin and Death decide to follow Satan to Paradise by building a "broad highway or bridge" over Chaos to Paradise—which is described with striking imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Deep to the roots of Hell the gathered beach
They fastened, and the mole immense wrought on
Over the foaming deep high arched, a bridge
Of length prodigious joining to the wall
Immovable of this now fenceless world
Forfeit to Death; from hence a passage broad,
Smooth, easy, inoffensive down to Hell.
Related Themes:
Book 11
Explanation and Analysis—Noah's Ark:
In Book 11, the archangel Michael ushers Adam and Eve out of Paradise and shows Adam visions of future events to come—including striking imagery that tells the story of Noah's Ark (in which a simile is contained):
Unlock with LitCharts A+Meanwhile the south wind rose, and with black wings
Wide hovering, all the clouds together drove
From under heav’n; the hills to their supply
Vapour, and exhalation dusk and moist,
Sent up amain; and now the thickened sky
Like a dark ceiling stood; down rushed the rain
Impetuous, and continued till the earth
No more was seen; the floating vessel swum
Uplifted; and secure with beakèd prow
Rode tilting o’er the waves, all dwellings else
Flood overwhelmed, and them with all their pomp
Deep under water rolled; sea covered sea,
Sea without shore; and in their palaces
Where luxury late reigned, sea-monsters whelped
And stabled; of mankind, so numerous late,
All left, in one small bottom swum embarked.
Related Themes:
Book 12
Explanation and Analysis—Leaving Eden:
In Book 12, Adam and Eve are led by Michael out of Paradise for good, a moment Milton renders with poignant imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They looking back, all th’ eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:
Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They hand in hand with wand’ring steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
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