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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
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Topographical Imagery:
Robinson devotes a substantial portion of the narrative to describing his surroundings. In line with the character's rationalism, much of the imagery is topographic in nature. Instead of dwelling on descriptions of his environment as it looks in front of him, from the ground up, Robinson often describes the setting in terms of how it would look on a diagram or map. As a result, it becomes possible for the reader to visualize the story from above, cartographically. This style of imagery is related to Robinson's emphasis on numbers, details, and precision, as well as to the novel's nautical atmosphere. The reader can find an example of this in how he maps his escape from Morocco in Chapter 3:
But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I chang’d my course, and steer’d directly south and by east, bending my course a little toward the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fair fresh gale of wind, and a smooth quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next day at three a clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less than 150 miles south of Sallee.
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Topographical Imagery:
Robinson devotes a substantial portion of the narrative to describing his surroundings. In line with the character's rationalism, much of the imagery is topographic in nature. Instead of dwelling on descriptions of his environment as it looks in front of him, from the ground up, Robinson often describes the setting in terms of how it would look on a diagram or map. As a result, it becomes possible for the reader to visualize the story from above, cartographically. This style of imagery is related to Robinson's emphasis on numbers, details, and precision, as well as to the novel's nautical atmosphere. The reader can find an example of this in how he maps his escape from Morocco in Chapter 3:
Unlock with LitCharts A+But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I chang’d my course, and steer’d directly south and by east, bending my course a little toward the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fair fresh gale of wind, and a smooth quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next day at three a clock in the afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less than 150 miles south of Sallee.
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Robinson's Self-Portrait:
For most of the book, Robinson does not exhibit much interest in his own appearance. His person and clothing seem to be very low-level concerns for him, aside from their role in his survival and most basic needs. When he has lived on the island for a while, however, the reader can't help but wonder what he must look like. And, sure enough, the narrator uses imagery to describe Robinson's appearance in Chapter 13:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Be pleas'd to take a sketch of my figure as follows,
I had a great high shapeless cap, made of a goat’s skin, with a flap hanging down behind, as well to keep the sun from me, as to shoot the rain off from running into my neck [...] I had a short jacket of goat-skin, the skirts coming down to about the middle of my thighs; and a pair of open-knee’d breeches of the same, the breeches were made of the skin of an old he-goat, whose hair hung down such a length on either side, that like pantaloons it reach’d to the middle of my legs; stockings and shoes I had none, but had made me a pair of some-things, I scarce know what to call them, like buskins, to flap over my legs, and lace on either side like spatter-dashes; but of a most barbarous shape, as indeed were all the rest of my clothes."
Related Themes:
