vivid imagery
Sharp mental pictures
Vivid imagery is language that creates strong sensory impressions in the reader's mind—sights, sounds, smells, textures, tastes rendered so concretely they feel almost experienced rather than merely read.
The phrase appears most often in literary criticism and writing instruction: The novel's vivid imagery brings 1920s Paris to life.
Good vivid imagery is specific rather than abstract, showing rather than telling.
- poetic proseHeightened language without verse
- word paintingMusic that illustrates lyrics
- show don't tellWriting principle favoring demonstration
- literary deviceStorytelling method or structure
- onomatopoeiaSound-imitating word formation
symbolism · metaphor · tactile sensation · nature writing · synesthesia · storytelling · lyrical prose · purple prose · sense memory · poetry · sensory detail · nature · allegory · personification · imagination · simile · fantasy literature · descriptive
- descriptiondescription, detail, descriptive prose, sensory detail, particulars
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
- Storytelling skillspacing, timing, voice modulation, character voices, suspense building
- visual imaginationvisualization, mind's eye, picturing, mental pictures, inner vision
- writing termsplot, character, creative writing, composition, figurative language
- mnemonicsmemory palace, loci, locus, method of loci, cognitive maps