imagery

Imagery is the use of descriptive language, pictures, or other representations to evoke sensory experiences and mental pictures. In literature, the term most often refers to sensory imagery—details that appeal to sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, or internal sensations—and to the mental imagery that such details can provoke in readers.

Common categories align with the senses: visual imagery describes appearances such as color, light, form; auditory imagery conveys sounds; olfactory imagery evokes smells; gustatory imagery relates to taste; tactile imagery covers textures and temperatures; kinesthetic imagery depicts movement or physical sensations; organic imagery refers to internal feelings such as hunger or anxiety. Writers combine these images with figurative language—metaphor, simile, personification—to intensify effect. Imagery can be explicit, or it can be subtle, layering sensory detail to hint at mood or symbolism.

Imagery serves multiple functions: it grounds readers in a setting, evokes mood and emotion, and communicates ideas beyond literal description. It can build atmosphere, advance symbolism, reveal character, or create pacing. Effective imagery often appeals to more than one sense, producing a richer experience.

Beyond literature, imagery also describes the pictures produced by imaging technologies in science and medicine, such as medical imaging (MRI, CT), satellite imagery, and sonar imagery. These uses share the core idea of representing phenomena through sights that stand in for underlying reality.

See also: sensory detail, figurative language, metaphor.