poetic imagery
Language painting scenes
Poetic imagery is language that evokes sensory experience—what can be seen, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled.
The term applies both to the technique and to specific instances: The poem is rich in poetic imagery; a striking piece of poetic imagery.
Though associated with poetry, the phrase extends to vivid figurative language in any form: Her prose has the poetic imagery of verse.
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- simileComparison via "as"
- synecdochePart standing for whole
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- lightVisible electromagnetic radiation
melancholy · nostalgia · sound · paradox · mind's eye · sensory · lyricism · vividness · allusion · oxymoron · tableau · still waters · symbolism · assonance · moon · golden hour · fading light · chiaroscuro
- books and reading poetrypoems, verse, sonnets, haiku, rhyme
- literary termsmetaphor, character analysis, symbolism, prologue, epilogue
- poetry termsrhyme, verse, rhythm, meter, beat
- artistic metaphorsymbolism, allegory, visual metaphor, color symbolism, extended metaphor
- figurative languagemetaphor, simile, figure of speech, analogy, personification
- Japanese poetrywaka, tanka, haiku, senryu, hokku
poetic imageryplain language
Easily understood communication
technical jargon · legalese · journalistic style · expository writing
poetic imagerydirect speech
Exact quoted utterance
abstract reasoning · bare facts · raw data · statistical analysis · empirical observation
poetic imagerytechnical documentation
Explanatory materials for products
instruction manual · legal brief · tax form · assembly instructions · terms and conditions