Imagery & Detail

Imagery  Imagery is the use of words to immerse the reader in a sensory experience.  Imagery uses words that describe any experience with the five senses:  Sight  Sound  Taste  Touch  Smell

 Imagery can be litera l: the sweet, wafting aroma of freshly baked bread and the pulsating, umber glow of the oven timer.  Imagery can be figurative (metaphorical) : the comforting quilt of the sweet, wafting aroma of freshly baked bread and the pulsating, umber glow of the oven timer

You try! Provide a description to complete the table below A sunsetSight A fish marketSmell The hazy crimson glow of the sunset caressed her shoulders with a warm touch, kindling long- forgotten memories. What sense does this appeal to? How is it also a metaphor?

Just because it has things you can see, doesn’t make it imagery! Not imageryImagery “I used to like to have my hair cut. I liked the mirrors in the room and the smells of lotions and shampoos.” “I used to like to have my hair cut. I liked the round mirrors in their shiny gilded-gold frames and the tropical and citrus aroma of the lotions mingling with the musky, vanilla shampoos. When he ran, he loved the way it made his lungs and muscles feel. When he ran, he loved the cold, yet burning, feeling in his lungs and the short electric spasms that would course through his cramped muscles.

He had bathed regularly in the lake, but not with soap, and he thought how nice it would be to wash his hair. Thick with grime and smoke dirt, frizzed with wind and sun, matted with fish and foolbird grease, his hair had grown and stuck and tangled and grown until it was a clumped mess on his head.  To what sense(s) does this appeal?  Which details make up the imagery?  Is the last sentence literal or figurative? How do you know?  Bonus: where is the polysyndeton and what purpose does it serve?

Practice  You are writing a brochure for one of the cities below. Include a few sentences for each sense, describing the city. Be specific, creative, and immersive/focused!  New York City  Big Bear, CA.  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  Death Valley

Detail  Includes the facts, observations, reasons, incidents, and examples the rhetor chose to include and/or leave out.  Details tend to clarify claims by providing supporting details. Ex: Claim-Hazlitt believes living life without money is a miserable experience. Details to support: Hazlitt recounts hypothetic scenarios of how friends abandon you, family loses trust in you, people make you feel ashamed, etc.

Details Cont.  The information in writing that answers the journalistic inquiries:  Who  When  What  Where  Why  How

“Mr. Clark is excited” Does this sentence answer the journalistic inquiries? Is it specific? "I'm going home to watch my favorite team in the NBA Finals game!" Mr. Clark, my new boss, had just shouted while giving me a high-five followed by an elbow in the face.”  Who is excited –  When is he excited–  What is he excited about–  Where is this excitement occurring –  How is the excitement carried out-

“After 12 years of teaching chemistry, Mr. Smith lost it. He began oinking like a pig and shouting, "I love Bastille Day" as he ran through the halls of Foothill High School. It didn't matter to Mr. Smith that Bastille Day was over a month away.”  Who is excited –  When is he excited–  What is he excited about–  Where is this excitement occurring –  How is the excitement carried out-

Details help focus your writing: more details = more important point less details = less important point  When examining detail, always ask yourself what a writer chose to include and why and what a writer chose to leave out and why.  Setting in science fiction!

Rewrite one of the sentences below so that it answers the journalistic inquiries:  Susan is athletic.  I am enjoying school today.  Eggs are fun to throw Now you try!

It is difficult to separate imagery from diction and detail because we choose the words and details we include in imagery, but the difference lies in focus: imagery creates an immersing sensory experience.

Practice: “The specific work spaces governed by my father and me were jealously guarded totalitarian states in which each of us declared ourselves the dictator.” Is this detail or imagery? Why? Is this metaphorical? If so, what are the two things being compared? What is the function of this comparison?

Practice cont… “Backlit by the sun’s golden rays and smelling faintly sweet, an acre of tiny, lavender flowers spread away from me.”  Is this detail or imagery? How do you know?  Is this metaphorical or literal? Why?  Draw this excerpt