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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 Keller Homestead:
In Chapter 1, Helen uses visual, auditory, and tactile imagery to evoke her nostalgia for her childhood home:
Even in the days before my teacher came, I used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges, and, guided by the sense of smell, would find the first violets and lilies. There, too, after a fit of temper, I went to find comfort and to hide my hot face in the cool leaves and grass. What joy it was to lose myself in that garden of flowers, to wander happily from spot to spot, until, coming suddenly upon a beautiful vine, I recognized it by its leaves and blossoms[...]
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Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—The Ocean :
In Chapter 10, Helen uses tactile imagery to convey the joy and terror she experienced on vacation at Cape Cod:
Unlock with LitCharts A+My most vivid recollection of that summer is the ocean[...] No sooner had I been helped into my bathing-suit than I sprang out upon the warm sand and without thought of fear plunged into the cool water. I felt the great billows rock and sink. The buoyant motion of the water filled me with an exquisite, quivering joy. Suddenly my ecstasy gave place to terror; for my foot struck against a rock and the next instant there was a rush of water over my head.
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Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Olfactory Imagery:
Olfactory imagery features prominently in The Story of My Life. For example, in Chapter 1, Helen describes the climbing roses at the Keller homestead as hanging "in long festoons from our porch, filling the whole air with their fragrance, untainted by any earthy smell." In Chapter 7, she notes the "spicy, clovery smell" of her pony's breath when she catches him in the pasture and puts a bit in his mouth. But the most impeccable example of olfactory imagery appears in Chapter 11 during her time at Fern Quarry:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Here were great oaks and splendid evergreens with trunks like mossy pillars, from the branches of which hung garlands of ivy and mistletoe, and persimmon trees, the odour of which pervaded every nook and corner of the wood — an illusive, fragrant something that made the heart glad[...] It was delightful to lose ourselves in the green hollows of that tangled wood in the late afternoon, and to smell the cool, delicious odours that came up from the earth at the close of the day.
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