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Idioms
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 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Searing Moon:
The narrator uses vivid imagery in Chapter 1 to describe Gertrude Morel, pregnant with Paul, as she sits outside in her garden after Walter locks her out of their home after an argument:
The moon was high and magnificent in the August night. Mrs. Morel, seared with passion, shivered to find herself out there in a great white light, that fell cold on her, and gave a shock to her inflamed soul. She stood for a few minutes helplessly staring at the glistening great rhubarb leaves near the door. Then she got the air into her breast. She walked down the garden path, trembling in every limb, while the child boiled within her.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Swimming in a Swoon:
The novel uses simile and alliteration in Chapter 1 when Gertrude Morel, pregnant with her second son Paul, stands in the garden after Mr. Morel locks her out of their home:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The tall white lilies were reeling in the moonlight […] [Mrs. Morel] drank a deep draught of the scent. It almost made her dizzy. Mrs. Morel leaned on the garden gate, looking out, and she lost herself awhile. She did not know what she thought. Except for a slight feeling of sickness, and her consciousness in the child, herself melted out like scent into the shiny, pale air. After a time the child, too, melted with her in the mixing pot of moonlight, and she rested with the hills and lilies and houses, all swum together in a kind of swoon.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Bowing Corn:
In Chapter 2, the novel uses allusion, imagery, and personification to describe the landscape as Gertrude Morel, holding her second son Paul in her arms, watches the sun go down:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Every open evening, the hills of Derbyshire were blazed over with red sunset. Mrs. Morel watched the sun sink from the glistening sky, leaving a soft flower-blue overhead, while the western space went red, as if all the fire had swum down there, leaving the bell cast flawless blue. The mountain-ash berries across the field stood fierily out from the dark leaves, for a moment. A few shocks of corn in a corner of the fallow stood up as if alive; she imagined them bowing; perhaps her son would be a Joseph. In the east, a mirrored sunset floated pink opposite the west’s scarlet.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Blazing Fruit Stand:
In Chapter 5, the narrator uses imagery—figurative language that engages the senses—to describe an abundant fruit stand Paul and Mrs. Morel see during a pleasant, extravagant day spent in London:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Just where the horse trams trundled across the market was a row of fruit stalls, with fruit blazing in the sun—apples and piles of reddish oranges, small green-gage plums and bananas. There was a warm scent of fruit as mother and son passed.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Black Valley:
The narrator uses vivid imagery and a simile in Chapter 5 to describe Paul's long commute from the city to The Bottoms, the mining community where he lives:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Occasionally the black valley space between was traced, violated by a great train rushing south to London or north to Scotland. The trains roared by like projectiles level on the darkness, fuming and burning, making the valley clang with their passage. They were gone, and the lights of the towns and villages glittered in silence.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Gertrude Morel's Hands:
In Chapter 10, the narrator uses vivid imagery, or descriptive language that activates the senses, to describe Gertrude Morel's hands:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They, too, were work-gnarled now. The skin was shiny with so much hot water, the knuckles rather swollen. But she began to be careful to keep them out of soda. She regretted what they had been—so small and exquisite.
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