RE F E RE NC E : PO E M AN A L YS I S .

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The face of poetry

POETRY
IMAGES IN
SENSORY IMAGES
Sensory Images, or Imagery in poetry, is the use
of vivid or figurative language to represent
objects, actions, or ideas. A writer uses his or her
language to vividly describe the incidents of the
story by addressing our senses.

Moreover, the human body has five basic senses:

vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Since
there are five senses, there are five types of
imagery as well.
 VISUAL appeals to our
IMAGERY sense of sight.

T h e w a y h e r e y e s s p a rk l e , t h e w a y h e r s m i l e
c u r v e s , t h e w a y h e r p a l e s k in s h i n e s , t h e w a y s h e
g r a c e f u lly w a l k s , t h e w a y h e r d a rk , s i l k y h ai r
m o v e s w it h t h e a ir, e v e r y t h in g a b o u t h e r i s j u s t
b e y o n d r e a l it y .
The thumping sounds of the drums synchronize with
the beat of my heart . The airy, wind-like sounds of
the flute harmonize with the alluring melodies of
the strings . The eargasm that is being built crashes
down as the screeching noise of a crying child
uproars amidst the performance.

appeals to our AUDITORY

sense of hearing.
IMAGERY
OLFACTORY appeals to our
IMAGERY sense of smell.

T o liv e in t h e s l u m s o f M a n i l a m e a n s e n d u r i n g
t h e p u t r id s m e l l i n e v e r y c o r n e r. T h e n e g l e c t e d
p i le s o f t r a s h a r o u n d l e a v e a m u s t y s t e n c h a s if a
r o t t in g b o d y i s h id d e n i n i t .
 F la v o r s o f a u t h e n t ic in g re d ie n t s p o p i n s i d e ,
a s I t a k e m y f i r s t b it e o f t h a t d e c a d e n t , m o i s t ,
y e t l ig h t c a k e . T h e o o z in g c r e a m y c h o c o l a t e
h y d r a t e s m y m o u th , a s t h e h i n t o f c o ff e e
s e a ls t h e fl a v o r o f t h i s a m a z i n g d e s s e r t .

appeals to our GUSTATORY

sense of taste.
IMAGERY
 TACTILE appeals to our
IMAGERY sense of touch.

H is w a r m a n d h a ir y a r m s a r e fu l l y e m b ra c e d
a r o u n d m y n e c k , a n d h is h e a rt i s p o u n d i n g
b e h in d m e . I ’ ll m i s s h i s t o u c h . I ’ l l d o a n y t h i n g t o
b e w it h h im a g a i n .
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
Figurative language uses figures of speech to
be more effective and persuasive. This type of
language uses words or expressions with
meanings that are different from the literal
interpretation.
Furthermore, the opposite of figurative language
is the literal language or ordinary language.
This is what we use in our daily speech. In
ordinary language, we generally use words that
are in strict agreement with their original
meanings.
FIGURES
OF
SPEECH
 SIMILE
A simile is a comparison of two persons or
things that are unlike in most respects.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner”

It uses like or as to signal

the comparison.
 METAPHOR
A metaphor is an implied comparison between
two persons or things that are unlike in most
respects.

From the cool cisterns of the

midnight air
My spirit drank repose,
The fountain of perpetual
peace flows there,--
From those deep cisterns flows
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of
the Ancient Mariner”

It does not use like or as.

 PERSONIFICATION
It is the transfer of human characteristics to
inanimate objects or abstract qualities.

I heard the trailing garments

of the Night
Sweep through her marble
halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed
with light
From the celestial walls!
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Hymn of
the Night”
 METONYMY
Metonymy is a literary device in which a word
or object stands in for a closely related word or
object.

Sceptre and Crown

Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made.
With the poor crooked scythe
and spade.
-James Shirley, “Death the Leveller”
 SYNECDOCHE
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a
part of something is used to signify the whole,
or vice-versa.

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that
you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of
hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;

-T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

 HYPERBOLE
Hyperbole is a statement greatly exaggerated
for an aesthetic purpose.

He clasps the crag with crooked

hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he
stands.
-Alfred Lord Tennyson, “The Eagle”
 UNDERSTATEMENT
An understatement occurs when the writer presents an idea,
situation, person, or thing as less serious than it is.

My echoing song; then worms

shall try
That long-preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to
dust,
And into ashes all my lust;
The grave’s a fine and private
place,
But none, I think, do there
embrace.
-Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
 PARADOX
A paradox is used in literature when a writer brings
together contrasting and contradictory elements that
reveal a deeper truth.

Cowards die many times before

their deaths.
The valiant never taste of death
but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have
heard,
It seems to me most strange that
men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary
end,
Will come when it will come.
-William Shakespeare, “Julius Ceasar””
 ALLUSION
An allusion is an indirect reference to, including but not
limited to, an idea, event, or person. It is used within
both prose and verse writing.

I will not cease from a Mental

Fight,
Nor shall my Sword in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England’s green & pleasant
Land.
-William Blake, “And Did Those Feet”
 APOSTROPHE
Apostrophe, in poetry, is a figure of speech in which a
character or speaker addresses someone absent, or
something abstract or inanimate.

Death, be not proud, though

some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art
not so;
For those whom thou think’st
thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst
thou kill me.
-John Donne, “Death Be Not Proud”