Consider:

The many men, so beautiful

And they all dead did lie:

And a thousand thousand slimy things

Lived on; and so did I.

Within the shadow of the ship

I watched their rich attire:

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,

They coiled and swam; and every track

Was a flash of golden fire. 

---   Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Discuss:    

1. These stanzas from the “the Rime of the Ancient Mariner” show the Mariner’s changing attitude toward the creatures of the sea. What is the Marine’s attitude in the first stanza? What image reveals this attitude?
2. What is the Mariner’s attitude in the second stanza? Analyze the imagery that reveals this change.

The mariner presents 2 visual images to create the tone to sorrow and dismay about his sailors. The visual images “many men so beautiful” and “all dead did lie” both suggest a feeling of loss and sorrow as beauty has been destroyed by a “thousand, thousand slimy things” obviously, the mariner’s attitude toward the slimy things, which are not even given a name, is one of disgust and horror.

The mariners attitude in the second stanza toward the slimy things changes to a toneof fascination and awe as he begins to notice their shape, movement and color. Visual images such as “rich attire” where the mariner begins to notice the sea creatures is followed by more detailed visual imagery such as “coiled and swam” and as “a flash of golden fire”. Colors such as blue, glossy green, and velvet black” provide specific and engaging images that reflect the mariner’s fascination with the bright and unique creatures that swim around the ship.

Imagery B

Consider:

And now nothing but drums, a battery of drums, the conga drums jamming out, in a descarga, and the drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell. There’s rain drums, like pitter-patter but a hundred times faster, and then slamming-the-door-drums and dropping-the-bucket drums, kicking-the-car-fender-drums. Then circus drums, then coconuts falling-out-of-the-trees-and-thumping-against-the-ground drums, then lion-skin drums, then the wacking-of-a-hand-against-a-wall-drums, the-beating-of-a-pillow-drums, heavy-stones-against-a-wall-drums, then the thickest-forest-tree-trunks-pounding-drums, and then the-mountain-rumble-drums, then the little-birds-learning-to-fly drums and the big-birds-alighting-on-a-rooftop-and-fanning-their-immense-wings drums…

- Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

Discuss:

1. Read the passage. How does Hujuelos create the auditory imagery of drumming? In other words, how do the words imitate the sounds they represent?
2. Hujuelos repeats the word then eight times in the passage. What does this repetition contribute to the auditory image of the drumming?

 Hujeulos makes auditory images by using the sound of the drums and comparing them to sounds that people hear every day like “slamming the door drums” and “kicking the car fender drums”. All of these sounds of drums are sounds that the reader can realate to pretty easily.

When Hujeulos uses the word then to make different auditory images. Using then makes it seem like the drum beats and sounds are ongoing and never end. For example when the used “slamming the door drums” and repeating then. Also the line “drummers lifting their heads and shaking under some kind of spell.”

Imagery C

Consider:

She looked into the distance, and the old terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.

Discuss:

1. Although the narrator “looks into the distance,” the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory images in the passage? What mood do these images create?
2. The last sentence of this passage contains an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks full the air). What effect does the use of an olfactory image, after the series of auditory images, have on the reader?

The auditory images are “Edna heard her father’s voice and her sister Margaret’s”, “heard the barking of an old dog”, “spurs of a Calvary officer clanged as he walked across the porch” also “hum of bees”. The auditory images make it seem that the place being described is calm for the moment but something bad will happen soon.

 By using the olfactory image, “the musky odor of pinks full the air”, after the repeated auditory images the narrator creates another dimension to describe the place.

Imagery D

Consider:

It was a mine town, uranium most recently. Dust devils whirled sand off the mountains. Even after the heaviest of rains, the water seeped back into the ground, between stones, and the earth was parched again.

              -Linda Hogan, “Making Do”

Discuss:

1.)      What feelings do you associate with images of dusty mountains and dry earth?

2.) These are two images associated with land in the third sentence. Identify the two images and compare and contrast the feelings these images evoke.

The images of dusty mountains and dry earth make it seem like the place being described is old, deserted and dangerous. The images “dust devils whirled sand off the mountains” and “the earth was parched again” also add to the feelings of the land.

 One of the two images is “dust devils whirled sand off the mountains” and “the earth was parched again” make tow different feelings. The first image makes me feel like the area is hazardous and treacherous and should not be messed with. The second image makes me feel as if the earth is suffering and dying painfully because of the use of the word parched.

Imagery E

Consider:

                 A woman drew her long black hair out tight

                 And fiddled whisper music on those strings

                 And bats with baby faces in the violet light

                 Whistled, and beat their wings

                 And crawled head downward down a blackened wall

                 And upside down in air were towers

                 Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours

                 And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells

-          T.S. Eliot, “ The Waste Land”

Discuss:

1.)      Paraphrase the image of the first two lines. What mood does the image create?

2.)      List the auditory images in these lines. How do these images help create the mood of the passage?

“A woman drew her long black hair out tight” and “And fiddled whisper music on those strings” makes a mood form the images. One mood is that one of fear. The words “long black hair” and “whisper music” create a feeling of darkness and that something not right. It makes it seem that something is evil and the person should not be there.

“Whistled, and beat their wings”, “Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours” and “voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted well”. These images help create that sense of darkness by using words like reminiscent.