what are the types of imagery in creative writing

Imagery Definition: 5+ Types of Imagery in Literature

Sean Glatch  |  May 2, 2023  |  8 Comments

What is imagery? Take a moment to conceptualize something in your mind: an object, a sound, a scent. Transcribe whatever you think about into language, transmitting to the reader the precise experience you had in your brain. This is imagery in literature​​—a powerful literary device that communicates our everyday sensory experiences.

Literature abounds with imagery examples, as authors have used this device to connect with their readers at a personal level. A precise image can form the basis of a powerful metaphor or symbol, so writers make their work resonate using imagery in poetry and prose.

Why do authors use imagery? In this article, we examine the 5 types of imagery in literature—visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and auditory. We’ll also take a look at some imagery examples and writing exercises. But first, let’s properly examine what is imagery in literature.

• Why Do Authors Use Imagery?

Imagery in Poetry

• Visual Imagery (Sight)
• Auditory Imagery (Sound)
• Tactile Imagery (Touch)
• Olfactory Imagery (Smell)
• Gustatory Imagery (Taste)

Kinesthetic Imagery and Organic Imagery

Imagery writing exercises, imagery definition: what is imagery.

Imagery refers to language that stimulates the reader’s senses. By evoking those senses through touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight, the writer imparts a deeper understanding of the human experience, connecting with the reader through a shared sensory experience.

Imagery definition: language that stimulates the reader’s senses.

For the most part, imagery in literature focuses on concrete senses—things you can physically experience. However, internal experiences and emotions also count, and later in this article, we dive into how to properly write organic imagery.

Of course, good imagery examples are not merely descriptive. I could tell you that “the wallpaper is yellow,” and yes, that counts as visual imagery, but it’s hardly describing the experience of that wallpaper . Is the wallpaper bright and cheerful? Does it lift your mood, or darken it?

Here’s a much more interesting description of that yellow wallpaper, from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “ The Yellow Wallpaper ”:

“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.”

Take note of how the visual imagery (bolded) shows you the wallpaper’s various colors and stains. When paired with the narrator’s tone (italicized), we form an image of bleak, depressing paper, far from the cheerful yellowness you might expect.

The best imagery examples will also form other literary devices . You’ll find that many images end up being metaphors, similes, and symbols, and many more images also rely on devices like juxtaposition. The interplay of these devices further strengthens the worldbuilding power of both the image and the author.

Why do Authors Use Imagery?

Authors use imagery to do what Charlotte Perkins Gilman does in “The Yellow Paper”: to create rich, livable experiences using only the senses.

Think of imagery as a doorway into the world of the text. It allows the reader to see, smell, hear, taste, and feel everything that happens in the story.

Moreover, this device highlights the most important sensory descriptions. Consider where you are right now, as you’re reading this article. There are many different sensory experiences vying for your attention, but your brain filters those senses out because they’re not important. You might be ignoring the sounds of your neighbors and passing street cars, or the taste of a meal you just had, or the feeling of your chair pressing into your body.

Imagery in literature performs the same function: it highlights the most important sensory information that the reader needs to step inside the story. Great imagery examples set the stage for great storytelling , goading the reader into the world of the work.

For a more in-depth answer on “why do authors use imagery?”, check out our article on Show, Don’t Tell Writing .

What is imagery in poetry? Is it any different than in prose?

While this device is the same for both poetry and prose, you might notice that imagery in poetry is more economic—it relies on fewer words. Take the following excerpt from Louise Glück’s poem October :

“Daybreak. The low hills shine

ochre and fire, even the fields shine.

I know what I see; sun that could be

the August sun, returning

everything that was taken away —”

The images in this excerpt are stunning, particularly “the low hills shine ochre and fire.” The reader can imagine a roiling green landscape tinged like a flame in the early sunrise, contributing to the speaker’s sense of hope that one often feels at the start of a new day.

In poetry, as in prose, images are often juxtaposed next to feelings, creating a sensory and emotive experience. The language that each form uses to create those experiences is similar, but the poetic form encourages an economy of language, making imagery in poetry more concise .

5 Types of Imagery in Literature

Corresponding with the 5 senses, there are 5 types of imagery at a writer’s disposal. (Actually, there’s 7—but we’ll handle those last two separately.)

Every writer should have all 5 types of imagery in their toolkit. To create a rich, believable experience for the reader, appealing to each of the reader’s senses helps transport them into the world of the story. No, you shouldn’t focus on all 5 senses at the same time—in real life, nobody can pay attention to all of their senses at once. But, you should be able to use all 5 types of imagery when your writing calls for it.

What is imagery in literature? These excerpts will show you. Let’s look at each type and some more imagery examples.

1. Visual Imagery Definition

Visual imagery is description that stimulates the eyes. Specifically, your mind’s eye: when you can visualize the colors, shapes, forms, and aesthetics of something that’s described to you, the writer is employing visual imagery.

When you can visualize the colors, shapes, forms, and aesthetics of something that’s described to you, the writer is employing visual imagery.

This is the most common form of imagery in literature, as the writer relies on visual description to create a setting, describe characters, and show action. Without visual imagery, it is much harder to employ the other types of imagery (though writers have certainly done this in the event that a character is blind or blinded).

Visual Imagery Examples

In each example, the visual imagery examples have been bolded.

“ A field of cotton —

as if the moon 

had flowered .”

—Matsuo Bashō, from Basho: The Complete Haiku , translated by Jane Reichhold.

“While talking to my mother I neaten things. Spines of books by the phone.

in a china dish. Fragments of eraser that dot the desk . She speaks

of death. I begin tilting all the paperclips in the other direction .”

—Anne Carson, from “ Lines ” in Decreation.

2. Auditory Imagery Definition

Auditory imagery is description that stimulates the ears. When you can hear the sounds of nature, machinery, or someone’s voice, it’s because of the description employed in the author’s auditory imagery.

When you can hear sounds like nature, machinery, or someone’s voice, it’s because of the description employed in the author’s auditory imagery.

Do note that, while you might be able to hear dialogue in your head, dialogue alone doesn’t count as auditory imagery. The sounds need to be described using adjectives, adverbs, and especially comparisons to other images.

Additionally, the literary device “ onomatopoeia ” does not count as auditory imagery. Onomatopoeias are wonderful devices that improve the sonic quality of your writing, but as devices, they are words that transliterate sounds into syllables; they don’t describe sounds in interesting or metaphorical ways.

Auditory Imagery Examples

In each example, the auditory imagery examples have been bolded.

“Few believe we’re in the middle of the end

because ruin can happen as slowly as plaque

blocking arteries, and only later feels as true

as your hand resting on my hip, both of us

quiet as roses waiting for the bees to arrive. ”

—Julie Danho, excerpt from “I Want to Eat Bugs With You Underground” in Bennington Review .

“Our ears are stoppered

in the bee-hum . And Charlie,

laughing wonderfully ,

beard stained purple

by the word juice ,

goes to get a bigger pot.”

—Robert Hass, excerpt from “ Picking Blackberries with a Friend Who Has Been Reading Jacques Lacan ” originally published in Praise.

3. Tactile Imagery Definition

Tactile imagery is description that stimulates your sense of touch. Sensations like itching, stickiness, and the warmth of sunlight all count as tactile imagery, which appeals to the way your skin might feel in that moment.

Sensations like itching, stickiness, and the warmth of sunlight all count as tactile imagery, which appeals to the way your skin might feel in that moment.

Tactile experiences only refer to external sensations, primarily on the skin. When a writer describes internal sensations, they’re using organic imagery, which we’ll define later in this article.

Tactile Imagery Examples

In each example, the tactile imagery examples have been bolded.

—Rainer Maria Rilke, excerpt from Journal of My Other Self.

“Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real?

If by real you mean as real as a shark tooth stuck

in your heel , the wetness of a finished lollipop stick ,

the surprise of a thumbtack in your purse —

then Yes, every last page is true, every nuance,

bit, and bite .”

—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, excerpt from “Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real?” in Poetry Foundation .

4. Olfactory Imagery Definition

Olfactory imagery is description that stimulates the nose. By describing the peculiarities of a scent—its richness, pungence, weight, distinctness, or physical effect—the author transports the reader through the use of olfactory imagery.

By describing the peculiarities of a scent—its richness, pungence, weight, distinctness, or physical effect—the author transports the reader through the use of olfactory imagery.

Olfactory looks like a strange word, but it comes from the Latin for “to smell,” and we have an olfactory bulb in our brains which processes smells. Fun fact: the olfactory bulb is situated just in front of the hippocampus, which processes memory. As a result, smells often stimulate stronger memories than the other senses, so you can use olfactory imagery to arouse both smell and memory.

Olfactory Imagery Examples

In each example, the olfactory imagery examples have been bolded.

—Patricia Hampl, excerpt from The Florist’s Daughter.

“Why is it that the poets tell

So little of the sense of smell?

These are the odors I love well:

The smell of coffee freshly ground;

Or rich plum pudding, holly crowned;

Or onions fried and deeply browned. ”

—Christopher Morley, excerpt from “ Smells ”.

5. Gustatory Imagery Definition

Gustatory imagery is description that stimulates the tongue. If you’ve ever done a wine or coffee tasting, you know exactly how complex a flavor can be. Gustatory imagery captures a flavor’s richness, acidity, earthiness, sweetness, bitterness, harshness, etc.

Gustatory imagery captures a flavor’s richness, acidity, earthiness, sweetness, bitterness, harshness, etc.

This is perhaps the rarest of the 5 types of imagery, as authors don’t seem to dwell on tastes too much, but gustatory imagery can absolutely throw the reader into different cultures, cuisines, and histories.

Gustatory Imagery Examples

In each example, the gustatory imagery examples have been bolded.

—E.M. Forster, excerpt from A Room With a View.

“I have eaten

that were in

you were probably

for breakfast

they were delicious

and so cold .”

—William Carlos Williams, “ This Is Just To Say ”.

Writers have another 2 types of imagery at their disposal: kinesthetic imagery and organic imagery. We include these as separate types of imagery because they describe senses that are more abstract than the other 5.

Kinesthetic Imagery Definition

Kinesthetic imagery, also called kinesthesia, refers to descriptions of motion. The sensations one feels when on the move, like running against the wind or swimming through brisk waters, are examples of kinesthetic imagery.

The sensations one feels when on the move, like running against the wind or swimming through brisk waters, are examples of kinesthetic imagery.

Kinesthesia might seem similar to tactile imagery, but the difference is that kinesthesia always describes movement. So, a bee sting is tactile, but a bee whizzing past your arm is kinesthetic; the coldness of a wall is tactile, but the feeling of a cold wall moving against you is kinesthetic.

Kinesthetic Imagery Examples

—Charles Dickens, excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities.

—Brit Bennett, excerpt from The Mothers .

Organic Imagery Definition

Organic imagery refers to descriptions of internal sensation. When the writer uses concrete description to show an internal landscape of feelings, pains, emotions, and desires, they’re using organic imagery. And what is imagery, if not visceral or deeply felt?

When the writer uses concrete description to show an internal landscape of feelings, pains, emotions, and desires, they’re using organic imagery.

Organic imagery can be physical, like stomach pain or a headache, but it can also be emotional: the feeling of your heart dropping into your gut, or the burn of jealousy in your temples.

Organic Imagery Examples

—S. K. Osborn, excerpt from There’s A Lot of Good Reasons to Go Out West .

“So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be.

It’s when I’m weary of considerations,

And life is too much like a pathless wood. ”

—Robert Frost, excerpt from “ Birches ”.

The importance of descriptive, concrete imagery to creative writing cannot be understated. To master this literary device, try your hand at the following 5 writing exercises.

1. Show, Don’t Tell

“Show, don’t tell” writing is writing that uses concrete details to transmit an experience to the reader, rather than asserting the experience itself. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you can learn about it (and find many more imagery examples) at this article .

Here’s an example of showing instead of telling:

• Telling: Mom stomped into the doorway, furious.
• Showing: The only thing chillier than the breeze from outside was mother herself, her bootsteps making the floorboards shake, her brow furrowed so tightly I worried her face might fall off.

In this exercise, rewrite the following phrases into complete “show, don’t tell” statements. The below sentences are “telling” sentences where the writer is chewing the reader’s food—asserting an experience without relying on the senses.

“Telling” statements:

• The girl felt warm.
• The full moon was bright.
• Her heart dropped.
• His dinner wafted through the kitchen.
• The cat chased birds.
• The wind swept the trees.
• Her bike wouldn’t budge.
• The berries tasted fresh.
• Their socks got wet.
• The music echoed down the hall.

The development of precise images is essential to great poetry, storytelling, and “show, don’t tell” writing. While poetry writing can linger in description, story writing is best kept to action. This checklist from Writer’s Digest does a great job of explaining how to make this device action-focused.

2. Look At This Photograph

Find an interesting photograph. It can be a physical photo, it can sit somewhere in your camera roll, it can be a classical painting, or you can simply look for something unique on a site like Unsplash .

Now, describe that photograph using the different types of imagery— except for visual imagery. Try to convey the experience of the photograph without showing the reader what it actually looks like. The challenge of describing something visual without relying on visual images will help you sharpen your descriptive writing.

Here’s an example, using this landscape painting by John Wootton:

• Auditory: The men whistled over the crash of waves reaching the shore, and the horse whinnied along with the work.
• Tactile: Water lapped along the men’s ankles, as cold as a snake’s glistening eyes.
• Olfactory: The salty air perforated each man’s nostrils, punctuating the air with a briny sharpness.
• Gustatory: Salt water waves occasionally crashed into the men’s lips, acrid and mouth-puckering. While they worked they thought about home, the warm taste of dinner satiating a hard day’s work.
• Kinesthetic: The barely moving air graced each man’s legs like a cat brushing past, and all was still.
• Organic: The sun crept below the horizon, and in the dark the forest seemed like it might come to life, like it was harboring a dark and heady tomorrow .

When you have an example for each non-visual image, try to combine them into a singular effective description of the photograph.

Do all of these imagery examples make sense? Do they even come close to describing the painting? Absolutely not. But just the attempt at describing a landscape painting through taste or touch helps juice your creativity, and you might stumble upon some really beautiful writing in the process.

If you enjoyed this exercise, you might be interested in the Ekphrastic Poetry Challenge at Rattle .

3. Think Abstractly

Great imagery relies on the use of great concrete words, particularly nouns and verbs (though some adjectives, too). The opposite of a concrete word is an abstract word: a word which describes an idea, not an image.

Examples of abstract words are “satisfaction,” “mercantilism,” “love,” “envy,” “disgust,” and “bureaucracy.” None of those words have concrete images: they might have symbols (like “heart” for “love”), but no single image defines any of those words.

For this exercise, generate a list of abstract words. If you’re struggling to come up with good words, you can use a list of abstractions like this one . Once you’ve settled on a good list, select a word that particularly excites you.

Use this abstract word as the title of a poem or story. Now, write that poem or story, using concrete description to show the reader exactly how that abstraction feels and looks. Do not use the abstract word, or any synonyms or antonyms, in your writing—try to avoid abstractions altogether.

At the end of your exercise, you might end with a poem like “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelley .

4. Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a literary device in which the writer uses more than one sense to describe something. For example, we often use the phrase “cool colors” for blues and greens, and “warm colors” for reds and oranges. “Cool” and “warm” are tactile, and since a color itself cannot be warm or cold, we’re able to represent the color through synesthesia.

Synesthesia is also a rare psychological condition, in which a person involuntarily experiences something in multiple senses. For example, someone with synesthesia might say that the number 12 is reddish-orange, or that the sound of a guitar tastes like rain.

For this exercise, describe the following items using synesthesia. Describe sounds using colors or tastes, describe smells using memories or movements. Get creative! You don’t need to have synesthesia to write synesthesia, just try to break free from the conventional use of the different types of imagery in literature.

Describe the following using synesthesia:

• The sound of your best friend’s voice. (What color, shape, smell, taste, or feeling does it have?)
• The disaster girl meme .
• The taste of vanilla ice cream.
• The letter J.
• A freezing shower.
• The smell of the rain.
• The feeling of sandpaper against skin.

For example, I might write that the letter J is the color of a forest at dusk, blue-green and pregnant with night.

Does that make sense to anyone else but me? Probably not! But that’s the point: be creative, be weird, be synesthetic.

5. Use Only Metaphors and Similes

For this exercise, you are free to describe whatever you would like. Describe an inanimate object, a food you enjoy, your pet, your archnemesis, the wind, the sea, the sun, or really anything you want to write about.

Whatever you choose, you must only describe that object using metaphors and similes . For a primer on these two literary devices, check out our article Simile Vs Metaphor Vs Analogy .

Do not use adjectives or adverbs, and only use nouns in comparison with your object.

Try to generate a list of metaphors and similes. For example, if your object is a rubber ball, you can say it “moves like a sparrow,” “bounces like children on trampolines,” and “waits to be noticed, a planet in hiding.”

Try to write for 15-20 minutes, and if you’ve generated a long enough list, you might even consider organizing your metaphors and similes into a poem or flash story. As with our other exercises, use compelling imagery, and show us something new about your object!

What is Imagery in Literature? Master the Device at Writers.com

Why do authors use imagery? To transport their readers to new and believable worlds. To learn more about imagery and practice it in your writing, take a look at the upcoming courses at Writers.com .

Sean Glatch

Sean, this is an extremely useful article. Thanks for sharing it. Loved the examples.

My pleasure, Lynne!

Lovely explanation of five senses

I agree!! Thank you so much for this wonderful new tool.

[…] Imagery Definition: 5+ Types of Imagery in Literature […]

I must print this one out.

Great tool. Thanks for sharing

very good website, really made my understanding wayyyyy better

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Scriptwriting

What is Imagery — Definition & Examples in Literature & Poetry

• Protagonist
• Deus ex Machina
• Foreshadowing
• Personification
• Red Herring
• Write Your Script For Free →

D escribing sensory experiences through the medium of writing and text can be difficult. By enlisting the use of imagery, writers are able to vividly describe experiences, actions, characters, and places through written language. What is imagery exactly. How is imagery in poetry and literature used? In this article, we’ll take a look at the imagery definition, seven different types of imagery and how each can be used to further immerse a reader into the work of a writer. 

Imagery definition

First, let’s define imagery.

Although there are several types of imagery, they all generally serve a similar function. To better understand the function of imagery in poetry and literature and how it can be achieved through various other literary devices, let’s take a look at the imagery definition. 

IMAGERY DEFINITION

What is imagery.

Imagery is a literary device used in poetry, novels, and other writing that uses vivid description that appeals to a readers’ senses to create an image or idea in their head. Through language, imagery does not only paint a picture, but aims to portray the sensational and emotional experience within text. 

Imagery can improve a reader’s experience of the text by immersing them more deeply by appealing to their senses. Imagery in writing can aim at a reader’s sense of taste, smell, touch, hearing, or sight through vivid descriptions. Imagery can be created using other literary devices like similes, metaphors, or onomatopoeia. 

What is imagery used for?

• Establishing a world or setting
• Creating empathy for a character’s experience
• Immersing a character into a situation

There are seven different types of imagery that writer’s use. All are in one way or another dependent on the reader’s senses. Let’s take a look at the types of imagery that are most commonly used in literature. 

What is imagery in poetry

1. visual imagery.

Visual imagery is most likely what people think of when they hear the term imagery. It uses qualities of how something looks visually to best create an image in the reader’s head. These visual qualities can be shapes, color, light, shadow, or even patterns. 

It is one of the most common types of imagery as it allows readers to better describe the world and characters of a novel or poem. Visual imagery is often used in screenplays when first introducing characters. Take a look at how Quentin Tarantino uses this type of imagery to introduce characters and places in the Pulp Fiction screenplay .

Pulp Fiction screenplay  •  Imagery examples

Visual imagery is often achieved through the use of other literary devices like metaphors and similes . To say a woman looks like Helen of Troy is both imagery, a simile, and an allusion. 

It can be frequently found in screenplays when a character is first introduced. 

Related Posts

• Read More: What is a Simile? Definition and Examples →
• Read More: How to Write a Fight Scene in a Screenplay →
• FREE: Write and create professionally formatted screenplays →

What’s imagery used for?

2. auditory imagery.

Our next type of imagery is auditory imagery. This type of imagery appeals to a reader’s sense of hearing. Creating an auditory experience through text can be difficult. But it can also be necessary for a story or plot. For example, the sound of war can be necessary to immerse the reader into a war novel. This may be used to describe gunfire, explosions, screams, and helicopters. 

Let’s take a look at William Shakespeare’s Macbeth , auditory imagery is used for a physical action that affects the actions of the characters. 

Macbeth - Imagery examples

Auditory imagery.

“Here’s a knocking indeed! If a man were porter of

hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. Knock

Knock, knock, knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of

Belzebub? Here’s a farmer that hanged himself on th’

expectation of plenty. Come in time! Have napkins

enow about you; here you’ll sweat for’t. Knock

Knock, knock! Who’s there, in th’ other devil’s name?”

As you can see from this example, writers will also enlist the use of onomatopoeia to create the actual sound of an action or effect through text. This can make reading a story more experiential. 

What does imagery mean?

3. gustatory imagery.

Gustatory imagery is a type of imagery that aims at a reader’s sense of taste. This would most commonly be used to describe food as a character eats it. A great example of this can be found in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. As the Queen creates Turkish Delight for Edmund, C.S. Lewis uses gustatory imagery to describe its taste.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Imagery examples

Gustatory imagery.

“The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious. He was quite warm now, and very comfortable.”

Describing food as sweet, salty, or even spicy can immerse a reader further into a character’s simple action of eating. Gustatory imagery can be incredibly effective when describing unpleasant tastes as well. 

4. Olfactory Imagery

Olfactory imagery is used when writers’ want to appeal to a reader’s sense of smell. Olfactory imagery is a great way to better describe both what a character is experiencing as well as the world of the novel, poem, or other writing. 

The smell of fresh rain, smoke from a fire, or gasoline can be described through olfactory imagery. A great example of this can be found in the novel The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin. Note the comparisons Irwin used to create the olfactory imagery and paint a picture of the smell. 

The Death Path - What is imagery in literature?

Olfactory imagery.

“But a smell shivered him awake.

It was a scent as old as the world. It was a hundred aromas of a thousand places. It was the tang of pine needles. It was the musk of sex. It was the muscular rot of mushrooms. It was the spice of oak. Meaty and redolent of soil and bark and herb. It was bats and husks and burrows and moss. It was solid and alive - so alive! And it was close.”

Olfactory imagery can also be used in a screenplay as a plot point and to suggest to actor’s what they are smelling and how they are reacting.

5. Tactile Imagery

To create the sensory experience of touch through text, writers utilize tactile imagery. This type of imagery can be used to describe how something feels such as texture, temperature, wetness, dryness, etc. 

In Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger , Camus uses this type of imagery to describe the heat of the sun pressing down on a man at the beach. 

The Stranger - What is imagery in literature?

Tactile imagery.

“Seeing the rows of cypress trees leading up to the hills next to the sky, and the houses standing out here and there against that red and green earth, I was able to understand Maman better. Evenings in that part of the country must have been a kind of sad relief. But today, with the sun bearing down, making the whole landscape shimmer with heat, it was inhuman and oppressive.”

As you can see from this example, this can be tremendously effective when characters are undergoing some type of turmoil. Tactile imagery appeals to a reader’s sense of touch and allows them to better empathize with a character. 

• Read More: Ultimate guide to Literary Devices →
• Read More: What is a Motif? Definition and Examples →

Kinesthetic imagery definition

6. kinesthetic imagery.

Kinesthetic imagery is used to describe the sensory experience of motion. Speed, slowness, falling, or even fighting can be written with kinesthetic imagery. 

In the world of screenwriting, kinesthetic imagery is perhaps most important in the genre of action films. How else can you write an epic fight scene other than by using kinesthetic imagery to paint the picture? 

In our breakdown of one of the many epic fight scenes in John Wick , we take a look at how kinesthetic imagery can tell the story of action on the page. Using words like “slam” and “snap” create the imagery of the fight scene. 

What is Imagery in Fight scenes?  •   Subscribe on YouTube

Kinesthetic imagery is also great when writing about topics like sports, driving, and other intense action. 

Organic imagery meaning

7. organic imagery.

Last, but not least on our list is organic imagery. Organic imagery appeals to the most primitive sensations in the human experience such as hunger, fatigue, fear and even emotion. 

It can be quite difficult to describe the emotions of a sorrowful character or desperate character. But organic imagery aims to do just that. When done effectively, organic imagery can be the best tool to move a reader to tears of either joy or sadness. 

Explore more literary devices

Imagery is just one of many literary devices and types of figurative language , including metaphor , juxtaposition , and symbolism . If you're a writer and want to develop your craft fully, do yourself a favor and continue this exploration. The next article on literary devices is a gateway to many of these tools that help add substance and style to any type of written work.

Up Next: Literary Devices Index →

Write and produce your scripts all in one place..

Write and collaborate on your scripts FREE . Create script breakdowns, sides, schedules, storyboards, call sheets and more.

• Pricing & Plans
• Featured On
• StudioBinder Partners
• Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets
• How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet)
• The Only Shot List Template You Need — with Free Download
• Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template)
• A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet
• Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates)
• Movie Magic Scheduling
• Gorilla Software
• Storyboard That

A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.

We’re in a golden age of TV writing and development. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? We’re here to help.

• Making It: From Pre-Production to Screen
• 24 Best Storyboarding Software of 2024
• The Complete Guide to Mastering Script Breakdown Elements
• What is Tone? — A Guide for Storytellers
• What is Symbolism? Definition & Examples
• A Beginner's Guide to Film Coverage
• 7 Pinterest
• 15 LinkedIn

Definition of Imagery

Love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.

Common Examples of Imagery in Everyday Speech

Types of poetic imagery, famous examples of imagery in shakespearean works, writing imagery, difference between literal imagery and figurative imagery, tips to analyze imagery, use of imagery in sentences, examples of imagery in literature.

Though imagery is often associated with poetry, it is an effective literary device in all forms of writing. Writers utilize imagery as a means of communicating their thoughts and perceptions on a deeper and more memorable level with readers. Imagery helps a reader formulate a visual picture and sensory impression of what the writer is describing as well as the emotions attached to the description. In addition, imagery is a means of showcasing a writer’s mastery of artistic and figurative language, which also enhances the meaning and enjoyment of a literary work for a reader.

Example 1:  Goblin Market (Christina Rossetti)

Early in the morning When the first cock crow’d his warning, Neat like bees, as sweet and busy, Laura rose with Lizzie: Fetch’d in honey, milk’d the cows, Air’d and set to rights the house, Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat, Cakes for dainty mouths to eat, Next churn’d butter, whipp’d up cream, Fed their poultry, sat and sew’d; Talk’d as modest maidens should: Lizzie with an open heart, Laura in an absent dream, One content, one sick in part; One warbling for the mere bright day’s delight, One longing for the night.

Example 2:  The Yellow Wallpaper  (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

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.

Example 3:  The Red Wheelbarrow  (William Carlos Williams)

so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens

Synonyms of Imagery

Related posts:, post navigation.

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Imagery Definition

What is imagery? Here’s a quick and simple 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 Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages the senses of touch, movement, and hearing: "I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend. / And I keep hearing from the cellar bin / The rumbling sound / Of load on load of apples coming in."

Some additional key details about imagery:

• Though imagery contains the word "image," it does not only refer to descriptive language that appeals to the sense of sight. Imagery includes language that appeals to all of the human senses, including sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
• While imagery can and often does benefit from the use of figurative language such as metaphors and similes, imagery can also be written without using any figurative language at all.

Imagery Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce imagery: im -ij-ree

Types of Imagery

There are five main types of imagery, each related to one of the human senses:

• Visual imagery (sight)
• Auditory imagery (hearing)
• Olfactory imagery (smell)
• Gustatory imagery (taste)
• Tactile imagery (touch)

Some people may also argue that imagery can be kinesthetic (related to movement) or organic (related to sensations within the body). Writers may focus descriptions in a particular passage on primarily one type of imagery, or multiple types of imagery.

Imagery and Figurative Language

Many people (and websites) confuse the relationship between imagery and figurative language. Usually this confusion involves one of two things:

• Describing imagery as a type of figurative language.
• Describing imagery as the use of figurative language to create descriptions that engage the physical senses.

Both are wrong.

A Quick Definition of Figurative Language

Figurative language is language that creates a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation of the words. For instance, the phrase "you are my sunshine" is figurative language (a metaphor , to be precise). It's not literally saying that you are a beam of light from the sun, but rather is creating an association between "you" and "sunshine" to say that you make the speaker feel warm and happy and also give the speaker life in the same way sunshine does.

Imagery can be Literal or Figurative

Imagery is neither a type of figurative language nor does it solely involve the use of figurative language to create descriptions for one simple reason: imagery can be totally literal. Take the lines from Robert Frost's "After-Apple Picking:"

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend. And I keep hearing from the cellar bin The rumbling sound Of load on load of apples coming in.

These lines contain powerful imagery: you can feel the swaying ladder, see the bending boughs, and hear the rumbling of the apples going into the cellar bin. But it is also completely literal: every word means exactly what it typically means. So this imagery involves no figurative language at all.

Now, that doesn't mean imagery can't use figurative language. It can! You could write, for instance, "The apples rumbled into the cellar bin like a stampede of buffalo," using a simile to create a non-literal comparison that emphasizes just how loudly those apples were rumbling. To sum up, then: imagery can involve the use of figurative language, but it doesn't have to.

Imagery Examples

Imagery is found in all sorts of writing, from fiction to non-fiction to poetry to drama to essays.

Example of Imagery in Romeo and Juliet

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , Romeo describes his first sight of Juliet with rich visual imagery:

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear

This imagery does involve the use of figurative language, as Romeo describes Juliet's beauty in the nighttime by using a simile that compares her to a jewel shining against dark skin.

Example of Imagery in "Birches"

In the early lines of his poem "Birches," Robert Frost describes the birches that give his poem it's title. The language he uses in the description involves imagery of sight, movement, and sound.

When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Example of Imagery in The Road

The novelist Cormac McCarthy is known, among other things, for his powerful imagery. In this passage from his novel The Road , note how he uses imagery to describe the fire on the distant ridge, the feel of the air, and even the feeling inside that the man experiences.

A forest fire was making its way along the tinderbox ridges above them, flaring and shimmering against the overcast like the northern lights. Cold as it was he stood there a long time. The color of it moved something in him long forgotten.

Example of Imagery in Moby-Dick

The passage ago appears at the very end of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and describes the ocean in the moments after a destroyed ship has sunk into it. Notice how Melville combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic imagery ("small fowls flew"; "white surf beat"), and how the imagery allows you to almost feel the vortex created by the sinking ship and then the silence left behind when it closes.

Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.

Example of Imagery in Song of Solomon

In this passage from Song of Solomon , Toni Morrison uses visual imagery to capture the color and motion of the table cloth as it settles over the table. She also uses figurative language ("like a lighthouse keeper...") to describe the way that Ruth in the passage looks at the water stain on the table. The figurative language doesn't just describe the color or sound or smell of the scene, it captures the obsessive way that Ruth glances at the water stain, and the way that seeing it gives her a sense of ease. Here the figurative language deepens the imagery of the scene.

As she unfolded the white linen and let it billow over the fine mahogany table, she would look once more at the large water mark. She never set the table or passed through the dining room without looking at it. Like a lighthouse keeper drawn to his window to gaze once again at the sea, or a prisoner automatically searching out the sun as he steps into the yard for his hour of exercise, Ruth looked for the water mark several times during the day.

Example of Imagery in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

The main character of Patrick Suskind's novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer has a supernaturally powerful sense of smell. In this passage, which describes the smells of an 18th century city, the narrator captures the nature of 18th century cities—their grittiness and griminess—through the smell of their refuse, and how in such a world perfume might be not just a luxury but a necessity. Further, he makes readers aware of a world of smell of which they normally are only slightly aware, and how a super-sensitive sense of smell could both be powerful but also be overwhelmingly unpleasant. And finally, through smell the narrator is able to describe just how gross humans can be, how they are in some ways just another kind of animal, and how their bodies are always failing or dying. Through descriptions of smell, in other words, the novel also describes an overlooked aspect of the human condition.

In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease.

Why Do Writers Use Imagery?

Imagery is essential to nearly every form of writing, and writers use imagery for a wide variety of reasons:

• It engages readers: Imagery allows readers to see and feel what's going on in a story. It fully engages the reader's imagination, and brings them into the story.
• It's interesting: Writing without imagery would be dry and dull, while writing with imagery can be vibrant and gripping.
• It can set the scene and communicate character: The description of how a person or place looks, moves, sounds, smells, does as much to tell you about that person or place as any explanation can. Imagery is not just "window dressing," it is the necessary sensory detail that allows a reader to understand the world and people being described, from their fundamental traits to their mood.
• It can be symbolic: Imagery can both describe the world and establish symbolic meanings that deepen the impact of the text. Such symbolism can range from the weather (rain occurring in moments of sadness) to symbolism that is even deeper or more complex, such as the way that Moby-Dick layers multiple meanings through his descriptions of the whiteness of the whale.

Other Helpful Imagery Resources

• Wikipedia entry on imagery : A concise, no nonsense entry on imagery.
• Imagery in Robert Frost's poetry : A page that picks out different kinds of imagery in poems by Robert Frost.
• Imagery in John Keats's poetry : A page that identifies imagery in poems by John Keats.

• Figurative Language
• External Conflict
• Common Meter
• Blank Verse
• Connotation
• Static Character
• Anachronism
• Polysyndeton

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to use Imagery

I. What is Imagery?

Imagery is language used by poets, novelists and other writers to create images in the mind of the reader. Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical language to improve the reader’s experience through their senses.

II. Examples of Imagery

Imagery using  visuals:

The night was black as ever, but bright stars lit up the sky in beautiful and varied constellations which were sprinkled across the astronomical landscape.

In this example, the experience of the night sky is described in depth with color (black as ever, bright), shape (varied constellations), and pattern (sprinkled).

Imagery using sounds:

Silence was broken by the peal of piano keys as Shannon began practicing her concerto .

Here, auditory imagery breaks silence with the beautiful sound of piano keys.

Imagery using scent:

She smelled the scent of sweet hibiscus wafting through the air, its tropical smell a reminder that she was on vacation in a beautiful place.

The scent of hibiscus helps describe a scene which is relaxing, warm, and welcoming.

Imagery using taste:

The candy melted in her mouth and swirls of bittersweet chocolate and slightly sweet but salty caramel blended together on her tongue.

Thanks to an in-depth description of the candy’s various flavors, the reader can almost experience the deliciousness directly.

Imagery using touch:

After the long run, he collapsed in the grass with tired and burning muscles. The grass tickled his skin and sweat cooled on his brow.

In this example, imagery is used to describe the feeling of strained muscles, grass’s tickle, and sweat cooling on skin.

III. Types of Imagery

Here are the five most common types of imagery used in creative writing:

a. Visual Imagery

Visual imagery describes what we see: comic book images, paintings, or images directly experienced through the narrator’s eyes. Visual imagery may include:

• Color, such as: burnt red, bright orange, dull yellow, verdant green, and Robin’s egg blue.
• Shapes, such as: square, circular, tubular, rectangular, and conical.
• Size, such as: miniscule, tiny, small, medium-sized, large, and gigantic.
• Pattern, such as: polka-dotted, striped, zig-zagged, jagged, and straight.

b. Auditory Imagery

Auditory imagery describes what we hear, from music to noise to pure silence. Auditory imagery may include:

• Enjoyable sounds, such as: beautiful music, birdsong, and the voices of a chorus.
• Noises, such as: the bang of a gun, the sound of a broom moving across the floor, and the sound of broken glass shattering on the hard floor.
• The lack of noise, describing a peaceful calm or eerie silence.

c. Olfactory Imagery

Olfactory imagery describes what we smell. Olfactory imagery may include:

• Fragrances, such as perfumes, enticing food and drink, and blooming flowers.
• Odors, such as rotting trash, body odors, or a stinky wet dog.

d. Gustatory Imagery

Gustatory imagery describes what we taste. Gustatory imagery can include:

• Sweetness, such as candies, cookies, and desserts.
• Sourness, bitterness, and tartness, such as lemons and limes.
• Saltiness, such as pretzels, French fries, and pepperonis.
• Spiciness, such as salsas and curries.
• Savoriness, such as a steak dinner or thick soup.

e. Tactile Imagery

Lastly, tactile imagery describes what we feel or touch. Tactile imagery includes:

• Temperature, such as bitter cold, humidity, mildness, and stifling heat.
• Texture, such as rough, ragged, seamless, and smooth.
• Touch, such as hand-holding, one’s in the grass, or the feeling of starched fabric on one’s skin.
• Movement, such as burning muscles from exertion, swimming in cold water, or kicking a soccer ball.

IV. The Importance of Using Imagery

Because we experience life through our senses, a strong composition should appeal to them through the use of imagery. Descriptive imagery launches the reader into the experience of a warm spring day, scorching hot summer, crisp fall, or harsh winter. It allows readers to directly sympathize with characters and narrators as they imagine having the same sense experiences. Imagery commonly helps build compelling poetry, convincing narratives , vivid plays, well-designed film sets, and descriptive songs.

V. Imagery in Literature

Imagery is found throughout literature in poems, plays, stories, novels, and other creative compositions. Here are a few examples of imagery in literature:

Excerpt describing a fish :

his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age .

This excerpt from Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Fish” is brimming with visual imagery. It beautifies and complicates the image of a fish that has just been caught. You can imagine the fish with tattered, dark brown skin “like ancient wallpaper” covered in barnacles, lime deposits, and sea lice. In just a few lines, Bishop mentions many colors including brown, rose, white, and green.

Another example :

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.

In this excerpt from Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement , we can almost feel the cabinet and its varnished texture or the joint that is specifically in a dovetail shape. We can also imagine the clasp detailing on the diary and the tin cash box that’s hidden under a floorboard. Various items are described in-depth, so much so that the reader can easily visualize them.

VI. Imagery in Pop Culture

Imagery can be found throughout pop culture in descriptive songs, colorful plays, and in exciting movie and television scenes.

Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox:

Wes Anderson is known for his colorful, imaginative, and vivid movie making. The imagery in this film is filled with detail, action, and excitement.

Louis Armstrong’s “ What a Wonderful World. ”

Armstrong’s classic song is an example of simple yet beautiful imagery in song. For instance, the colors are emphasized in the green trees, red blooming roses, blue skies, and white clouds from the bright day to the dark night.

VII. Related Terms

(Terms: metaphor,  onomatopoeia and personification)

Metaphor is often used as a type of imagery. Specifically, metaphor is the direct comparison of two distinct things. Here are a few examples of metaphor as imagery:

• Her smiling face is the sun .
• His temper was a hurricane whipping through the school, scaring and amazing his classmates .
• We were penguins standing in our black and white coats in the bitter cold .
• Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is also a common tool used for imagery. Onomatopoeia is a form of auditory imagery in which the word used sounds like the thing it describes. Here are a few examples of onomatopoeia as imagery:

• The fire crackled and popped .
• She rudely slurped and gulped down her soup .
• The pigs happily oinked when the farmer gave them their slop to eat .
• Personification

Personification is another tool used for imagery. Personification provides animals and objects with human-like characteristics. Here are a few examples of personification as imagery:

• The wind whistled and hissed through the stormy night .
• The tired tree’s branches moaned in the gusts of wind.
• The ocean waves slapped the shore and whispered in a fizz as they withdrew again.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website