Previous
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—Aunt Hester's Scream:
In Chapter 1, Douglass describes seeing and hearing his Aunt Hester endure horrifying physical and verbal abuse from Captain Anthony. This scene, about which several scholars have made landmark arguments, uses imagery and pathos to convey to white readers some of the more indescribable cruelties of enslavement:
[H]e commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor. I was so terrified and horror-stricken at the sight, that I hid myself in a closet, and dared not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over. I expected it would be my turn next. It was all new to me. I had never seen any thing like it before.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Sad Songs:
In Chapter 2, Douglass describes the sound of the songs enslaved people used to sing on the plantation where he grew up. He uses sound imagery to convey the emotional weight the songs carried:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them. [...] while I am writing these lines, an expression of feeling has already found its way down my cheek.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Cracked with Frost:
In Chapter 5, Douglass describes the relative ease of his life on Colonel Lloyd's plantation, but that ease is extremely relative. He uses imagery to describe the ways he is still scarred (literally) from his days there:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I must have perished with cold, but that, the coldest nights, I used to steal a bag which was used for carrying corn to the mill. I would crawl into this bag, and there sleep on the cold, damp, clay floor, with my head in and feet out. My feet have been so cracked with the frost, that the pen with which I am writing might be laid in the gashes.
Related Themes:
