Previous
Genre
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
Explanation and Analysis—Resurfaced Memories:
At times, Piranesi experiences flashbacks from his former life in the form of surreal, fragmented images. Take this passage from Part 2:
I saw a black scribble against a grey Sky and a flicker of bright red; words drifted towards me – white words on a black background. At the same time, there was a sudden blare of noise and a metallic taste on my tongue. And all of the images – no more than fragments or ghosts of images really – seemed to coalesce around the strange word, ‘Batter-Sea’. I tried to get hold of them, to bring them into sharper focus, but like a dream they faded and were gone.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The First Vestibule:
Piranesi is an expert on the House's many Halls, but he describes the First Vestibule using particularly vivid imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It is several degrees colder and there is a draught that blows from somewhere, bringing with it a smell of rain, metal and petrol. [...] The Shadows between the two Statues were producing a sort of optical illusion. I could almost imagine that they extended backwards a long way and that I was in fact gazing into a corridor leading to a distant point where there was a patch of misty light. This patch of light contained other lights that seemed to flicker and move. It was from there that both the draught and the scent seemed to emanate.
Related Themes:
Part 4
Explanation and Analysis—Resurfaced Memories:
At times, Piranesi experiences flashbacks from his former life in the form of surreal, fragmented images. Take this passage from Part 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I saw a black scribble against a grey Sky and a flicker of bright red; words drifted towards me – white words on a black background. At the same time, there was a sudden blare of noise and a metallic taste on my tongue. And all of the images – no more than fragments or ghosts of images really – seemed to coalesce around the strange word, ‘Batter-Sea’. I tried to get hold of them, to bring them into sharper focus, but like a dream they faded and were gone.
Related Themes:
Part 7
Explanation and Analysis—The Statues:
Even in the real world, Piranesi/Sorensen continues to seek knowledge and understanding by studying statues. He does so by conjuring their images in his memory:
Unlock with LitCharts A+When faced with a person or situation I do not understand, my first impulse is still to look for a statue that will enlighten me.
I think of Dr Ketterley and an image rises up in my mind. [...] It is the statue of a man kneeling on his plinth; a sword lies at his side, its blade broken in five pieces. Roundabout lie other broken pieces, the remains of a sphere. The man has used his sword to shatter the sphere because he wanted to understand it, but now he finds that he has destroyed both sphere and sword.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The World's Beauty:
Piranesi struggles to adapt to his life in the real world as Matthew Rose Sorensen. However, in the novel's closing scene, he walks through a park and feels at peace among the rich sensory images of the contemporary world:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It began to snow. The low clouds made a grey ceiling for the city; the snow muffled the noise of the cars until it became almost rhythmical; a steady, shushing noise, like the sound of tides beating endlessly on marble walls.
I closed my eyes. I felt calm.
There was a park. I entered it and followed a path through an avenue of tall, ancient trees [...] The pale snow sifted down through bare winter branches. The lights of the cars on the distant road sparkled through the trees: red, yellow, white.
Related Themes:
