The first few chapters of The War of the Worlds brim with visual, tactile, and auditory imagery. The combination of many kinds of imagery creates a well-rounded sense of the setting. It also forces readers to pay attention to details by immersing them in the world of the story. In Book 1, Chapter 3, the narrator describes the pit in which the Thing has landed:
It was glaringly hot, not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind[...]. The burning heather had been extinguished, but the level ground towards Ottershaw was blackened as far as one could see, and still giving off vertical streamers of smoke[...]. Going to the edge of the pit, I found it occupied by a group of about half a dozen men – Henderson, Ogilvy, and a tall, fair-haired man that I afterwards learnt was Stent, the Astronomer Royal, with several workmen wielding spades and pickaxes. Stent was giving directions in a clear, high-pitched voice.
In this scene, the narrator approaches the pit in hopes of getting a glimpse of the Thing. The visual imagery of the blackened ground and streamers of smoke give the scene a desolate quality. Examples of auditory imagery include Stent's "clear, high-pitched voice." Tactile imagery allows one to feel the "glaringly hot" sky from which issues "not a breath of wind"; the heat almost radiates from the page. Here, the narrator tries to establish a sense of reality and record the exact conditions of life before the invasion. The use of visual and tactile imagery in the first few chapters helps build the world of the story before the Martian invasion.
Auditory imagery helps the fanciful story in The War of the Worlds seem more real. Symbolically, the juxtaposition of noise and silence signifies times of violence and peace. It also evokes the patterns of noise in the city. In Book 1, Chapter 7, the narrator describes the striking difference between the "frantic" city and a comparatively peaceful row of houses:
Over the Maybury arch a train, a billowing tumult of white, firelit smoke, and a long caterpillar of lighted windows, went flying south – clatter, clatter, clap, rap, and it had gone. A dim group of people talked in the gate of one of the houses in the pretty little row of gables that was called Oriental Terrace. It was all so real and so familiar. And that behind me! It was frantic, fantastic! Such things, I told myself, could not be.
The words "clatter, clatter, clap, rap" do not have special formatting or punctuation. However, they still contrast sharply with the other sentences in the passage (which are more visually descriptive). The narrator also uses alliteration to create a distinctive rhetorical effect, as he observes, "It was frantic, fantastic!" Here, "fantastic" does not mean great; it rather means beyond belief. During the first stages of the Martians' invasion, the narrator cannot fathom that something so "fantastic" could ever be real. But auditory imagery helps reinforce the "real and [...] familiar" world of industrial England.
Silence is also significant. It comes to symbolize death and the cessation of human activity. In Book 2, Chapter 4, the narrator describes the "silence, that passed into an infinity of suspense" as he hides from a Martian. Silence, the narrative implies, can signify either peace or intense fear. Most of the people in this novel seem to exist in an "infinity of suspense" as the Martian invasion uproots their worldview and existence. The narrator is no exception. But while he might remain silent in the presence of the Martians, he actively participates in the preservation of his own life and the rescue of his wife. And, most importantly, he decides to record his story for posterity, expressing his traumas and difficulties rather than remaining silent on the subject. To that end, the narrative's continual juxtaposition of sound and silence creates an associative contrast that heightens the emotional elements of the novel.
Wells also uses visual imagery to bring the story to life. The most striking example is the contrast between light and darkness. Light signifies knowledge or revelation. Darkness, or blackness, signifies death, destruction, and the loss of human identity. For instance, the narrator describes the poisonous black vapor that infuses London as its inhabitants try to escape. And in Book 2, Chapter 8 (notably titled "Dead London"), he describes how London has been reduced to "black dust":
At the corner of the lane that runs to Putney Bridge station I found a man lying. He was as black as a sweep with the black dust, alive, but helplessly and speechlessly drunk. I could get nothing from him but curses and furious lunges at my head. I think I should have stayed by him but for the brutal expression of his face. There was black dust along the roadway from the bridge onwards, and it grew thicker in Fulham.
The man, who remains unnamed, is "as black as a sweep." This simile, which compares him to a chimney sweep, gives the reader a sense of the thick coating of dust that covers him. This man, made "brutal" by drink and trauma, presents a brief threat to the narrator, who decides to move on rather than stay with him. His coating of black dust signifies the loss of human identity and (most probably) impending death. Furthermore, the city is dark; darkness signifies its impending doom. In this passage and many others, the narrator repeats the words "black" and "dust" as if he cannot believe the extent of the destruction. The narrator also often describes the sunrise or sunset; the morning sometimes reveals yet more destruction that occurred during the night. The Martians, who do not need to sleep, wreak havoc in the daytime and nighttime. The recurring imagery of light and darkness reminds the reader of the Martians' power to destroy earth whether it is day or night.
