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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
Key Examples in The Alchemist
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Mammon's Vision :
Jonson employs lush imagery in a scene in which Sir Epicure Mammon, who has commissioned Subtle to create a Philosopher’s Stone, speaks rapturously of what he intends to do once he has the stone, which was reputed to confer immortality and turn cheap metals into gold:
Mam. [They] shall fan me with ten estrich tails
A-piece, made in a plume to gather wind.
We will be brave, Puffe, now we have the med'cine.
My meat shall all come in, in Indian shells,
Dishes of agat set in gold, and studded
With emeralds, sapphires, hyacinths, and rubies.
The tongues of carps, dormice, and camels' heels,
Boil'd in the spirit of sol, and dissolv'd pearl [...]
And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber,
Headed with diamond and carbuncle.
Related Themes:
