{{Short description|Creatives' use of symbolism or figurative language to add depth to their work}}
'''Imagery''' is the literary device of using vivid '''sensory language'''. Less commonly known as '''''enargia''''', it is figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions in the reader or listener. Imagery in narrative literature can also be instrumental in conveying tone, mood, and other literary elements.<ref>{{cite web |last1 =Malewitz |first1 =Raymond |title =What is Imagery? |department =Definitions and Examples |url =https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-imagery-definition-examples |website =Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms |date =8 November 2019 |publisher =Oregon State School of Writing, Literature and Film |access-date=28 April 2023}} </ref> In order to show this, writers use accompanying forms of figurative language to convey a certain message, idea, situation, setting, aesthetic, among others. That way, writers are able to get the readers to understand the ideas being conveyed without the original intent being lost.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paudyal |first=Homa Nath Sharma |date=2023-07-17 |title=The Use of Imagery and Its Significance in Literary Studies |url=https://nepjol.info/index.php/ojes/article/view/56664 |journal=The Outlook: Journal of English Studies |language=en |volume=14 |pages=114–127 |doi=10.3126/ojes.v14i1.56664 |issn=2773-8124|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Uses with Other Forms of Figurative Language == ''Imagery with Metaphors & Similes'': provides specificity to whatever the reader is imagining because of comparisons presented.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Paramalingam |first=M. |date=2023 |title=The aesthetics of language: Examining literary devices in literature |url=chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cosmosjournals.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CAHE-JD23-122-1.-Muhantha-Paramalingam.pdf |journal=Cosmos An International Journal of Art & Higher Education |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=1-7}}</ref>
''Imagery with Symbolism'': the underlying meaning placed onto something/someone as a result of symbolism creates a connection with a specific idea to a broader concept.<ref name=":1" />
''Imagery with Rhythm'': creates an atmosphere for the reader as well as setting the pace/flow for a text.<ref name=":1" />
==Types== There are five major types of sensory imagery, each corresponding to a sense, feeling, action, or reaction:
* ''Visual imagery'' pertains to graphics, visual scenes, pictures, or the sense of sight. ** Builds the setting of the story as well as the characters that are a part of the story. ** One of the most commonly used types of imagery. <ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Sardevi |first=S. |date=2025 |title=Emotional Intensity and the Function of Imagery in Contemporary Popular Fiction |url=https://ejournal.kyadiren.or.id/index.php/pulchra/article/view/75 |journal=Pulchra Lingua: A Journal of Language Study, Literature, & Linguistics |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=38-50}}</ref> *''Auditory imagery'' pertains to sounds, noises, music, or the sense of hearing. (This kind of imagery may come in the form of onomatopoeia). **Dialogue can give depth to interpersonal relationships and conflicts that arise between characters.<ref name=":0" /> *''Olfactory imagery'' pertains to odors, aromas, scents, or the sense of smell. **Intensifies the vividness of the setting, and plants the readers within the story.<ref name=":0" /> *''Gustatory imagery'' pertains to flavors or the sense of taste. *''Tactile imagery'' pertains to physical textures or the sense of touch. **Amplifies intimacy between characters as well as the world around them.<ref name=":0" />
Other types of imagery include:
*''Kinesthetic imagery'' pertains to movements. **Can increase pacing within a text, as well as giving life to the scenery provided to readers.<ref name=":0" /> *''Organic imagery / subjective imagery'', pertains to personal experiences of a character's body, including emotion and the senses of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and pain.<ref>{{cite web|title=Poetics of Robert Frost: Examples|url=http://www.frostfriends.org/imagery.html|publisher=Friends of Robert Frost|access-date=12 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504082124/http://www.frostfriends.org/imagery.html |archive-date=2013-05-04 |url-status=dead}}</ref> *''Phenomenological'', pertains to the mental conception of an item as opposed to the physical version. *''Color imagery'' is the ability to visualize a color in its absence.
== 3 Necessities for Imagination<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stokes |first=D. |date=2019 |title=Mental imagery and fiction |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-philosophy/article/mental-imagery-and-fiction/385412C1D8AA237C461FEF7A7DCD6933 |journal=Canadian Journal of Philosophy |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=731-754 |via=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> ==
* ''Directedness'': putting the imagination's focus on a specific person, place, thing, event, etc. * ''Activity'': because one is imagining something, they are actively exercising the muscle that is their brain. * ''Phenomenology'': while one is imagining something, they can relate it to something that is relatively similar to it.
==References == {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite book|author=Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1261367980|title=The time machine|date=20 July 2021|isbn=978-1-7225-2491-3|oclc=1261367980}}
==External links== * {{cite IEP |url-id=imagery |title=Imagery and Imagination}} * {{citation |last=Thomas |first=Nigel J.T |title=Mental Imagery |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-imagery/ |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=February 16, 2012 |editor-last= Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |date=Winter 2011}} * Belyaev, Igor A. (2020), [https://www.europeanproceedings.com/files/data/article/1021/10633/article_1021_10633_pdf_100.pdf "Human-sizedness as a principle of {{sic|exis|tance|nolink=yes}} for literary-artistic image], Proceedings of the Philological Readings (PhR 2019), EPSBS European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, London, 19–20 September 2019, pp. 560–567. *[https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-imagery-definition-examples What is Imagery?: Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms]
{{Fiction writing}} {{Figures of speech}}
Category:Style (fiction) Category:Narrative techniques
{{lit-stub}} Category:Literary theory