imagery

View more Literature & Language videos

n.collectively, the representations of objects reproduced electronically or by optical means on film, electronic display devices, or other media.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

imagery, a rather vague critical term covering those uses of language in a literary work that evoke sense‐impressions by literal or figurative reference to perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or states, as distinct from the language of abstract argument or exposition. The imagery of a literary work thus comprises the set of images that it uses; these need not be mental ‘pictures’, but may appeal to senses other than sight. The term has often been applied particularly to the figurative language used in a work, especially to its metaphors and similes. Images suggesting further meanings and associations in ways that go beyond the fairly simple identifications of metaphor and simile are often called symbols. The critical emphasis on imagery in the mid‐20th century, both in New Criticism and in some influential studies of Shakespeare, tended to glorify the supposed concreteness of literary works by ignoring matters of structure, convention, and abstract argument: thus Shakespeare's plays were read as clusters or patterns of ‘thematic imagery’ according to the predominance of particular kinds of image (of animals, of disease, etc.), without reference to the action or to the dramatic meaning of characters' speeches. See also motif.

A psychological technique involving the production of vivid mental experiences by the normal processes of thought. In sport, imagery is an extremely versatile technique used to learn and practise skills; to improve self-confidence; to acquire the right frame of mind before competition; to promote relaxation and recovery after competition; and to accelerate rehabilitation after an injury. Imagery is a purely mental process. Through imagery, an athlete recreates past positive experiences or creates new experiences without receiving any external stimuli or producing any overt body movements. Imagery can involve any sensory experience. In practising a skill, for example, imagery is especially effective if the athlete imagines the auditory, olfactory, tactile, and kinaesthetic sensations associated with performing the skill well.

The mental pictures created by a piece of writing: “The imagery of “The Waste Land” — crumbling towers, dried-up wells, toppled tombstones — conveys the author's sense of a civilization in decay.”

The elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery is a variable term which can apply to any and all components of a poem that evoke sensory experience, whether figurative or literal, and also applies to the concrete things so imaged. Basically, it is the representation of one thing by another.

(DOD, NATO) Collectively, the representations of objects reproduced electronically or by optical means on film, electronic display devices, or other media.

IN BRIEF: Picture in words.

Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be. — Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian communications theorist. Quoted in Maclean’s (Toronto, June 1971).

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Quotes:

"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?" - Andy Warhol

"Industrial societies turn their citizens into image-junkies; it is the most irresistible form of mental pollution. Poignant longings for beauty, for an end to probing below the surface, for a redemption and celebration of the body of the world. Ultimately, having an experience becomes identical with taking a photograph of it." - Susan Sontag

"The Image is more than an idea. It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy." - Ezra Pound

"The visual is sorely undervalued in modern scholarship. Art history has attained only a fraction of the conceptual sophistication of literary criticism. Drunk with self-love, criticism has hugely overestimated the centrality of language to western culture. It has failed to see the electrifying sign language of images." - Camille Paglia

"We operate with nothing but things which do not exist, with lines, planes, bodies, atoms, divisible time, divisible space -- how should explanation even be possible when we first make everything into an image, into our own image!" - Friedrich Nietzsche

"Metaphors are much more tenacious than facts." - Paul De Man

See more famous quotes about Image

The representation of objects reproduced by optical, IR (infrared), or electronic means on film, electronic display devices, or other media.

---

For a list of words related to imagery, see:

• Devices, Techniques, and Elements - imagery: figurative language used to evoke mental picture or create atmosphere

---

See words rhyming with "imagery."

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of imagery

• imaginery

Dansk (Danish)
n. - billedsprog, billedverden, (udskårne) billeder

Nederlands (Dutch)
beeldspraak

Français (French)
n. - (Art, Littérat) imagerie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Bilder, Vorstellungen, Metaphorik

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ρητορικά σχήματα, σχήματα λόγου, καλολογικά στοιχεία

Italiano (Italian)
immagini, lavoro d'intaglio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - imagem (f), fantasia (f)

Русский (Russian)
скульптурные изображения, образность

Español (Spanish)
n. - imágenes, imaginaciones

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bilder, bildspråk

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
肖像, 雕刻, 比喻

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 肖像, 雕刻, 比喻

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 심상, 상

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 心像, 比喩的表現, 肖像, 画像

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الخيال, صورة بلاغيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮דימויים, דימוי ציורי, גילוף, פסלים‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.