The Two Noble Kinsmen
by William Shakespeare

The Two Noble Kinsmen: Imagery 1 key example

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
Act 4, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Knee-deep :

In one of the play’s more prominent sub-plots, the lovesick Jailer’s Daughter has a fit of temporary madness after releasing Palamon from the prison overseen by her father. The Wooer, a suitor to the Jailer’s Daughter, finds her sitting in a body of water, and after returning her to her home, he uses lush imagery to describe the scene in which he found her: 

The place
Was knee-deep where she sat; her careless tresses,
A wreath of bulrush rounded; about her stuck
Thousand freshwater flowers of several colors,
That methought she appeared like the fair nymph 
[…]  or as Iris
Newly dropped down from heaven. Rings she made
Of rushes that grew by, and to ’em spoke
The prettiest posies. “Thus our true love’s tied,”
“This you may lose, not me,” and many a one;
And then she wept, and sung again, and sighed,
And with the same breath smiled and kissed her
hand.