Imagery in context Now that you have an idea of the many ways that imagery can be used in poetry, the next question is: how to use it well? What general principles can be used to figure out if an image will work in a poem and help the poem communicate? It is important to use imagery to serve a coherent whole, and to try to keep the whole poem in mind when creating your images or when choosing details from life to put onto the page. This can be done in revision as well ...
3. Kinetic imagery Sound effects can create a sense of motion, but this isn’t precisely what I mean by kinetic imagery. Kinetic imagery is another application of sensual imagery that’s worth talking about because it rarely gets named or discussed, but can be incredibly important to a poem. Kinetic imagery is the creation of motion through an energetic and precise use of verbs, and the use of particular verbs to further an image. To investigate kinetic imagery, we’ll look more closely ...
1. Sensual imagery When most people talk about imagery they mean sensual imagery, so we’re going to discuss it first. Sensual imagery is language whose main function is to appeal to the senses, thus the name. Sensual imagery often appears as a passage of description, or a moment of a story told in detail. Sensual imagery is always concrete – based in real things. Sensual imagery doesn’t always depict the actual experience of the poet, but it is often based on experience in some way. ...
Updated 08-31-2012 at 04:09 PM by Isis
I wrote this guide for another forum for young writers (mostly teens and twentysomethings), but it got fairly detailed - I think it will be helpful for any writer approaching poetry or poetic prose with a desire to learn something. This guide covers what imagery is, what forms it can take, a plethora of ways that you can use imagery in your poetry, and exercises for improving your imagery. I’m always looking to update and improve my guides, so if you have questions, comments, arguments, additions, ...
Updated 08-31-2012 at 04:08 PM by Isis
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