The very core of storytelling is organic imagery. When we work to make a film or TV show or anything else, the visuals we put on the screen need to represent the core themes and beats of the story. This appeals to the audience’s sense of humanity.
These ideas were not created by us filmmakers. They date back to the first human writing, poetry, and literature. They were brought about by finding words to express our sense of hearing, touch, and emotions.
Today, we’re going to go over the very idea of imagery and its many facets. We’ll learn its types, definition, and examples, and even unpack the vivid imagery that keeps us coming back for more. We will also find out what is the best definition of the term “imagery”!
You’ll learn to be a better visual writer from reading this post. You’ll use your taste, smell, hearing, and other senses to connect with the world.
Now, let’s go over the kinds of imagery we see in poetry and literature. And also learn how this stuff will help our film and TV aspirations.
‘Avatar’
Credit: Disney
What Is Imagery in Poetry and Literature?
This is going to be an all-encompassing walkthrough of the very idea of how we as human beings use our imaginations to create pictures in our heads. It’s not only important to storytelling but to every art form we have. No matter what you create, it all comes down to images and how they make the audience feel.
Whether those images are expressed in words or in-camera effects, you need them to tap into emotions and into your soul.
How does that work in literature and poetry?
‘The Birds’
Credit: Paramount Pictures
“Imagery” Definition
Imagery is the visually descriptive language used in a literary work.
“Literature” Definition
Literature is a written work with lasting artistic merit.
“Poetry” Definition
Poetry is an emotional literary work that uses distinctive style and rhythm to reveal deep human feelings and ideas.
‘Dead Poets Society’
Credit: Touchstone Pictures
A List of Imagery Words
When you’re trying to use visual language, you might have trouble finding the words to help you. Well, here’s a list of 500+ imagery words that can help you get anything across. Check them out below.
- Abrasive
- Acidic
- Acrid
- Ambrosial
- Angular
- Antiseptic
- Appetizing
- Aroma
- Aromatic
- Azure
- Babble
- Balmy
- Bang
- Barking
- Bawled
- Bawling
- Bellow
- Billowy
- Biting
- Bitter
- Bittersweet
- Black
- Bland
- Blare
- Blaring
- Bleary
- Bleat
- Bloated
- Blonde
- Blue
- Blurred
- Blushing
- Boiling
- Boom
- Booming
- Branching
- Bray
- Breezy
- Bright
- Brilliant
- Briny
- Bristly
- Broad
- Brown
- Brunette
- Bubbly
- Bubby
- Bulbous
- Bulky
- Bumpy
- Burning
- Burnt
- Bushy
- Buttery
- Buzz
- Buzzing
- Cackle
- Cackling
- Camouflaged
- Charred
- Chatter
- Chattering
- Cheer
- Chilled
- Chilly
- Chiming
- Chirping
- Chubby
- Chuckle
- Circular
- Citrusy
- Clammy
- Clamor
- Clang
- Clanging
- Clap
- Clapping
- Clicking
- Clink
- Clinking
- Coarse
- Cold
- Colorful
- Colorless
- Colossal
- Contaminated
- Contoured
- Cooing
- Cool
- Cosmic
- Cottony
- Coughing
- Crackle
- Crackling
- Craggy
- Crashing
- Crawly
- Creak
- Creamy
- Creepy
- Crimson
- Crinkled
- Crispy
- Croaking
- Crooked
- Crow
- Crowded
- Crunch
- Crunching
- Crunchy
- Cry
- Crying
- Crystalline
- Cuddly
- Curved
- Cushioned
- Damp
- Dank
- Dark
- Dazzling
- Deafening
- Decayed
- Decomposed
- Deep
- Delectable
- Delicious
- Dim
- Dingy
- Dirty
- Disheveled
- Distinct
- Distorted
- Doggy
- Doughy
- Downy
- Drab
- Dreary
- Drenched
- Dripping
- Dry
- Dull
- Dusty
- Ear-piercing
- Earsplitting
- Earthy
- Elastic
- Elegant
- Enchanting
- Engaging
- Enormous
- Exploding
- Faded
- Faint
- Fancy
- Fat
- Feathery
- Fermented
- Fetid
- Feverish
- Filthy
- Fine
- Fishy
- Fizzing
- Flashy
- Flat
- Flavorful
- Flavorless
- Fleshy
- Flickering
- Floral
- Floury
- Flowery
- Fluff
- Fluffy
- Foamy
- Foggy
- Forked
- Foul-smelling
- Fragile
- Fragrant
- Freckled
- Freezing
- Fresh
- Fruity
- Furry
- Fuzzy
- Gagging
- Gamy
- Gargantuan
- Garlicky
- Gaseous
- Gasping
- Gaudy
- Gigantic
- Giggle
- Giggling
- Gingery
- Ginormous
- Glamorous
- Glassy
- Gleaming
- Glimpse
- Glistening
- Glitter
- Glittering
- Globular
- Gloomy
- Glossy
- Glowing
- Gluey
- Gold
- Gooey
- Graceful
- Grainy
- Grate
- Grating
- Gray
- Greasy
- Green
- Gritty
- Gritty
- Grotesque
- Growl
- Grumble
- Grunt
- Grunting
- Guffaw
- Gurgle
- Gurgling
- Gushy
- Hairy
- Hanging
- Hazy
- Hearty
- Heavy
- Hiss
- Hissing
- Hollow
- Homely
- Honking
- Horrid
- Hot
- Howl
- Hubbub
- Huge
- Hum
- Humid
- Humming
- Hush
- Ice-Cold
- Icy
- Illuminated
- Immense
- Indistinct
- Inodorous
- Itchy
- Ivory
- Jabber
- Jangle
- Jangling
- Juicy
- Knobbed
- Knotty
- Lacy
- Lanky
- Large
- Laughing
- Lavender
- Lean
- Leathery
- Lemony
- Light
- Lightweight
- Limp
- Lithe
- Little
- Lofty
- Long
- Low
- Lukewarm
- Lumpy
- Luscious
- Malnourished
- Malodorous
- Maroon
- Massive
- Matted
- Medicinal
- Mellow
- Melted
- Mephitic
- Metallic
- Miniature
- Minty
- Misshapen
- Misty
- Moaning
- Moist
- Moldy
- Monotonous
- Mooing
- Motionless
- Mottled
- Mountainous
- Mouth-watering
- Muddy
- Muffled
- Mumble
- Mumbling
- Murky
- Murmur
- Mushy
- Musky
- Musty
- Mutter
- Muttering
- Narrow
- Nauseating
- Noisy
- Numbing
- Nutritious
- Nutty
- Obtuse
- Odiferous
- Odor
- Odorless
- Oily
- Old
- Olive
- Opaque
- Orange
- Oval
- Palatable
- Pale
- Peeping
- Peered
- Peppery
- Perfumed
- Petite
- Pickled
- Piercing
- Piney
- Ping
- Pinging
- Pink
- Piquant
- Plastic
- Plopping
- Pointed
- Polluted
- Pop
- Portly
- Powdery
- Pristine
- Prodigious
- Pulpy
- Pungent
- Purple
- Purring
- Putrid
- Quacking
- Quaint
- Quiet
- Radiant
- Rancid
- Rank
- Rant
- Rapping
- Rasping
- Raucous
- Rave
- Raw
- Rectangular
- Red
- Reddish
- Redolent
- Reeking
- Refreshing
- Rich
- Ringing
- Ripe
- Rippling
- Roar
- Roaring
- Rocky
- Rotten
- Rotund
- Rough
- Round
- Rubbery
- Ruby
- Ruddy
- Rumble
- Rumbling
- Rustle
- Rustling
- Rusty
- Sabotaged
- Salty
- Salty/Salted
- Sandy
- Savory
- Scalding
- Scent
- Scented
- Scorching
- Scratching
- Scratchy
- Scream
- Screaming
- Screech
- Screeching
- Scrumptious
- Scummy
- Serene
- Serrated
- Shadowy
- Shaggy
- Shallow
- Shapeless
- Sharp
- Sheer
- Shimmering
- Shiny
- Shivering
- Shivery
- Short
- Shout
- Shouting
- Shrieking
- Shrill
- Sickly
- Sigh
- Silent
- Silky
- Silver
- Sing
- Singing
- Sizzling
- Skinny
- Skunky
- Slam
- Slamming
- Slimy
- Slippery
- Sloppy
- Small
- Smell
- Smoky
- Smooth
- Smothering
- Smudged
- Snap
- Snappy
- Snoring
- Snort
- Soapy
- Soaring
- Soft
- Sopping
- Soupy
- Sour
- Sparkling
- Sparkly
- Spherical
- Spicy
- Splashing
- Splintery
- Spoiled
- Spongy
- Spotless
- Spotted
- Springy
- Sputter
- Square
- Squashy
- Squawking
- Squeaky
- Squeal
- Squishy
- Stagnant
- Stale
- Stammer
- Steamy
- Steely
- Steep
- Stench
- Sticky
- Stifled
- Stifling
- Stinging
- Stinky
- Stomp
- Stony
- Storm
- Stormy
- Straight
- Strange
- Striped
- Stubby
- Stuttering
- Sugary
- Sunny
- Sweaty
- Sweet
- Swooping
- Syrupy
- Tall
- Tangled
- Tangy
- Tantalizing
- Tapered
- Tapering
- Tarnished
- Tart
- Tasteless
- Tearing
- Teeny-tiny
- Tempting
- Tender
- Tepid
- Thick
- Thin
- Thorny
- Thudding
- Thump
- Thumping
- Thunder
- Thundering
- Ticking
- Tickling
- Tingling
- Tinkling
- Tiny
- Tough
- Towering
- Translucent
- Transparent
- Triangular
- Turquoise
- Twinkling
- Twisted
- Twittering
- Ugly
- Unripe
- Unsanitary
- Unsightly
- Unusual
- Velvety
- Vibrant
- Vinegary
- Vivid
- Wail
- Warbling
- Warm
- Waxy
- Weird
- Wet
- Wheezing
- Whiff
- Whimper
- Whimpering
- Whine
- Whining
- Whir
- Whisper
- Whispering
- Whistle
- White
- Whooping
- Wide
- Wiry
- Wispy
- Wizened
- Woolly
- Wrinkled
- Wrinkly
- Yell
- Yellow
- Yelp
- Yummy
- Zesty
‘Trumbo’
Credit: Fox Searchlight
Language That Appeals to the Senses
This seems like a good time to point out that everything here is dedicated to you creating something that connects with people. We use language that appeals to the senses because it helps us time together the visual imagery of our brains.
We’re able to imagine better if the words on the page appeal to us, if they evoke some sort of sensory memory or just allow us to picture something in all its glory.
What Is Comparative Imagery?
If you have two passages and are trying to find their similarities and differences, you compare them. This is called comparative imagery.
A filmmaker might do this with different drafts of a screenplay. And a writer might do it with different translations of a passage.
‘Minority Report’
Credit: Dreamworks
Vivid Imagery Is Often Used to Help the Reader
We are in the imagination business. As people who primarily work in film and TV, vivid imagery appeals to us because it is the recipe to communicate ideas to readers.
If no one can picture what you can in your brain, it won’t be a successful project. People need to see what’s happening in their minds so they can connect.
This is also very important for screenwriters, who use the visual imagery on the page as a blueprint for what directors and cinematographers bring to the screen.
“Sensory Imagery” Definition
Sensory imagery is when you use descriptive language to easily create images someone can imagine.
What Is Sensory Imagery?
Sensory imagery involves the use of descriptive language to create mental images. In literary terms, sensory imagery is a type of imagery—the difference is that sensory imagery works by engaging a reader’s five senses. Any description of sensory experience in writing can be considered sensory imagery.
Sensory covers all the different types of imagery.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
Credit: Warner Brothers
The Different Types of Imagery
There are a few types of imagery that you can employ in your writing. Whether working on literature, poetry, or your next great screenplay, try to incorporate these ideas to make your visuals come across even stronger.
Sometimes we call this the different types of sensory imagery or the all-encompassing, vivid imagery.
“Vivid Imagery” Definition
Vivid imagery is when the writer uses language that directly appeals to the five senses—touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste—to enable the reader to picture the meaning of the author.
Vivid Description
When someone talks about vivid descriptions, they’re talking about a detailed report about a scene or a landscape. They want individual details that build pictures in our minds and allow us to almost “see” what’s going on.
These are especially helpful for writers tackling novels, poems, or screenplays. They allow the audience to see the action thanks to the scene set by the vocabulary of a great writer.
‘Tree of Life’
Credit: Fox Searchlight
Vivid Imagery Example
Robert Frost’s famous poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” contains some of the most vivid imagery possible. You can feel the cold, hear the jingling bells, and see the snow falling in the woods. Check it out below.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
“Visual Imagery” Definition
Visual imagery immerses the reader or listener in words that describe the sense and feeling of sight. These are things like visual descriptions or talking about color, size, shape, shadows, light, and dark.
Visual Imagery Examples
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, we get some excellent visual imagery explaining what it looks like on the wall.
The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others. No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long.
“Olfactory Imagery” Definition
Olfactory imagery is visuals conjured with the sense of smell. A smell can trigger emotions and memory. It is closely linked to taste and often employs simile to get its point across. Bad or good, scent can take us to many places.
Olfactory Imagery Examples
Poet H.W. Longfellows uses the sense of smell to bring us to a place where it has just rained. We get all sorts of smells, from clover to smoke, evoking something peaceful and new.
“They silently inhale
the clover-scented gale,
And the vapors that arise
From the well-watered and smoking soil”
“Tactile Imagery” Definition
Tactile imagery is writing or spoken words that stimulate your sense of touch by evoking things like an itch, something sticky, or the weight or feel of an object.
‘Thor: Ragnarok’
Credit: Marvel
Tactile Imagery Example
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, our titular character talks about the feeling of hot and cold, evoking the way our skin would feel. In this play, about murder, we get that feeling of violence, which makes our skin crawl.
Shakespeare writes:
“Whiles I threat, he lives: Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.”
What Does “Gustatory” Mean?
Gustatory imagery focuses on the reader or listener’s sense of taste. It pulls back memories or alludes to the way things sit on our palate. It can be sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty, or savory.
‘Ratatouille’
Credit: Pixar
Gustatory Imagery Example
The esteemed poet John Keats writes in “The Eve of St. Agnes” about the tastes and eats of the festival, and everything sounds so good you can taste it.
While he forth from the closet brought a heap
Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon;
Manna and dates, in argosy transferr’d
From Fez; and spiced dainties, every one,
From silken Samarcand to cedar’d Lebanon.
Auditory Imagery
Auditory imagery is a form of visual imagery that evokes the sound of something. It can be words with sound meanings or even musicality.
‘Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse’
Credit: Sony
Auditory Imagery Example
I’m not sure there is a more famous auditory imagery example than Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” It has that knocking on the door, which is both terrifying and an excellent way to learn this definition.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
Kinesthetic Imagery
Kinesthetic imagery describes the actions and movements of people on or with objects. They can be running your hand over something sharp or soft, creaking with physical movement, or stubbing your toe.
‘Pulp Fiction’
Credit: Miramax
Kinesthetic Imagery Example
In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, he writes about the feeling of the hustle and bustle of the town. He writes:
“With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandonment of consideration not easy to be understood in these days, the carriage dashed through streets and swept round corners, with women screaming before it, and men clutching each other and clutching children out of its way. At last, swooping at a street corner by a fountain, one of its wheels came to a sickening little jolt, and there was a loud city from a number of voices, and the horses reared and plunged …”
What Does “Poetic” Mean?
Poetic means words written in verse, or having to do with poetry.
What Are Devices in Poetry?
There are five common literary devices found in poetry. Let’s go over each of them.
Alliteration
An alliteration is the succession of words that all start with the same letter. Like how in V for Vendetta, the character of V only speaks in words that begin with V.
Caesura and enjambment
Caesura is a rhetorical break in the flow of sound in the middle of a line of verse. It goes hand in hand with enjambment, which is a sentence that runs from one verse or couplet into another, allowing related words to have new lines.
Imagery
As we are covering in this post, these are words that create images or other sensory feelings within our minds.
Juxtaposition/oxymoron
Juxtaposition is a literary device that compares two things to one another by placing them side by side. For example, in The Wizard of Oz, we see how black and white and color represent two very different worlds for Dorothy.
And an oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear together. They are terms like, “jumbo shrimp” and “a silent scream.”
Personification
Personification is the giving of human characteristics to something nonhuman. In movies and TV, think of things like The Brave Little Toaster or any of the animals in Disney animated movies.
‘Inside Out’
Credit: Pixar
What Is a Poetic Device?
The devices mentioned above are used in poetry in conjunction with imagery to transport the reader to a place in their minds.
They are all words that deepen the connection to the material and to each other.
Poems with Graphical Elements
One of the visual elements I love seeing is the graphical element in poetry. They literally change the imagery of how the poem looks on the page.
Graphical elements of a poem are things like capitalization, punctuation, length of the lines, and the positioning of the words on the page.
These elements help form the “shape” of a poem and these shapes tell us a lot about a story.
My absolute favorite example of this is Joan Bransfield Graham’s poem, “Popsicle.”
Popsicle
Credit: English 310
Examples of Imagery in Poetry
We’ve covered some of the poems that have different types of visuals, but let’s look at a few prime examples of imagery in poetry.
Alfred Tennyson writes a clear picture in “Summer Nights.”
“Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:
The firefly wakens: waken thou with me.
Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.
Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.
Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.
Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake.
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.”
William Carlos Williams uses sensory imagery to make you hungry in “This Is Just to Say.”
“I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold”
What Is “Literary”? The Literary Definition
Literary is having to do with literature or the written word.
What Are Images in Literature?
When people write a novel or screenplay or a poem, they often use images to paint a picture of what the audience sees and hears.
This helps define literature for the audience.
These are worldbuilding tactics that help steep us in the point of view of the work.
‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’
Credit: Columbia Pictures
Examples of Imagery in Literature
We covered a few of these above, but I picked several others I thought really nailed our cause.
First, let’s talk about Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, in which there is the most beautiful description of a cabinet I have ever read.
“A taste for the miniature was one aspect of an orderly spirit. Another was a passion for secrets: in a prized varnished cabinet, a secret drawer was opened by pushing against the grain of a cleverly turned dovetail joint, and here she kept a diary locked by a clasp, and a notebook written in a code of her own invention. … An old tin petty cash box was hidden under a removable floorboard beneath her bed.”
When it comes to making a town feel alive with imagery, check out Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. There’s a wonderful excerpt about how Maycomb smells and feels live.
“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then; a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’ clock naps, and by nightfall were like stiff teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum. ”
Summing Up “What Is Imagery?”
There’s a lot to learn when it comes to the way we use language to communicate. We are visual creatures, whether that comes on the screen, or in our mind. Visuals are the ultimate communicator and can take us into our memories, our emotions, and anywhere else we can think about.
What are some of your favorite uses of imagery in poetry in literature? we would love to know. Let us see some examples in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
