Rip Van Winkle
by Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle: Imagery 1 key example

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
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—Mountains as Monarchs:

Diedrich Knickerbocker opens his narration by describing the Catskill (or Kaatskill) Mountains, at the foot of which lie Rip Van Winkle's village. Knickerbocker's nature imagery relies on a simile comparing the landscape to a monarch:

When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of grey vapours about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.