Imagery — English definition
Defined in 2 courses:
- Language that evokes sensory experience. (English 7: Reading, Evidence & Expression)
- Vivid sensory language — sight, sound, smell, taste, touch — that lets a reader experience a scene. (English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences)
Where it is taught
- Figurative Language & Imagery — Poetry, Drama & Comparison, English 7: Reading, Evidence & Expression, Grade 7
- Author's Craft & Figurative Language — Close Reading & Literary Analysis, English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences, Grade 10
In use
Imagery is language so sensory you can almost see, hear, or smell the scene — the sizzle of oil, the cold iron of a gate — and vivid imagery makes a moment land in the body, not just the mind.
Author's Craft & Figurative Language
Questions using imagery
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
Language that evokes sensory experience. The unit case offers this example to examine: The door’s reply personifies an object: a difficult opening is presented as a partial sigh. The image makes resistance to entering audible and connects a physical threshold with the poem’s concern about practical welcome. It does not prove that the door thinks or that every door has the same symbolic meaning. Identify the wording or choice that fits the term. A different accurate example is acceptable.
Use the model to discuss reasoning after an independent attempt. A different accurate supported response can be correct; written work needs human marking.
Problem 2
- Naming a device completely explains its effect.
- personification: Giving a nonhuman thing qualities associated with human action or feeling.
- Every image has one fixed meaning outside its context.
- Every correct response must exactly copy the model wording.
Answer and explanation
personification: Giving a nonhuman thing qualities associated with human action or feeling.
Giving a nonhuman thing qualities associated with human action or feeling. The door’s reply personifies an object: a difficult opening is presented as a partial sigh. The image makes resistance to entering audible and connects a physical threshold with the poem’s concern about practical welcome. It does not prove that the door thinks or that every door has the same symbolic meaning.