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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
Key Examples in Up From Slavery
Chapter 1: A Slave Among Slaves
Explanation and Analysis—Flax Shirts:
Early in Up from Slavery, Washington uses imagery to capture the agony of putting on a shirt made of flax—the only shirt he was allowed to wear while enslaved:
I can scarcely imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points, in contact with his flesh. Even to this day I can recall accurately the tortures that I underwent when putting on one of these garments. The fact that my flesh was soft and tender added to the pain. But I had no choice.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9: Anxious Days and Sleepless Nights
Explanation and Analysis—Thousand-Pound Pressure:
When describing the pressure that he felt to ensure that the Tuskegee Institute was successful as the first large educational institution founded by and for Black Americans, Washington uses imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I knew that if we failed it would injure the whole race. I knew that the presumption was against us. I knew that in the case of white people beginning such an enterprise it would be taken for granted that they were going to succeed, but in our case I felt that people would be surprised if we succeeded. All this made a burden which pressed down on us, sometimes, it seemed, at the rate of a thousand pounds to the square inch.
Related Themes:
