Baunach

Desiree Baunach

Mrs. Mayfield

English Literature: Block 4

May 10th, 2021

Imagery

What is Imagery? Imagery is being able to visualize descriptive or figurative language,

especially in literary work. In Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, he uses imagery to describe his mistress. He

goes into detail about her smell and the way she looks. He does very well with using imagery by

choosing a great vocabulary to describe the way he feels.

His first use of imagery is in line 2 when he describes his mistress’s lips. “Coral is far more red

than her lips’ red,”. It is easy to visualize her lips not being very bright in color by his word choice. He

then says in line 4, “If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head,”. It is easy to start visualizing how

his mistress appears to him. “And in some perfumes is there more delight, Than in the breath that from

my mistress reeks.” lines 7 and 8, he then starts to describe her scent. He has used imagery to describe

the way she looks in lines 2-4 and as the sonnet continues he starts putting together the way she smells

as well.

Shakespeare definitely has an eye for the use of imagery. His word choice is very descriptive and

relevant and easy to understand. He knows how to use simple words to create the use of imagery to

attract the reader and get them to understand exactly what he is talking about. Shakespeare understands

how to drag the reader into his poems to not only be able to read it but also to visualize it. He has a

unique way to talk about his mistress that some may find offensive, but that is just one of his ways to

draw a reader in.