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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
Book 1, Chapter 3: On Horsell Common
Explanation and Analysis—Visual, Tactile, Auditory:
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.
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Book 1, Chapter 7: How I Reached Home
Explanation and Analysis—Noise and Silence:
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:
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8: Dead London
Explanation and Analysis—Light and Darkness:
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":
Unlock with LitCharts A+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.
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