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Poetic imagery, the sensory and figurative language used in poetry.
The object or experience that the poet is contemplating is usually perceived by him in a
to some second object or event, person or thing, to which he directs attention. He may be thought to transfer from this image certain qualities, which are then perceived as attributes of the original object; the poet’s intention being to decorate, illuminate, emphasize, or renew by such transferences the original character of that which he contemplates. The making or finding of the image
an activity by which the poet invites the reader to establish certain relationships, which
turn involve value judgments. Image and symbol are, in one sense, the outcome of the poet’s impulse to perceive unity in diversity or
draw together a number of apparently unrelated experiences or to communicate through their submerged or penumbral statements meanings that are beyond the resources of direct language. Images also differ in the depth or profundity or complexity of the meanings implied, as well as in their purpose and origin; and they may derive additional force and vitality from their contextual relation to other images in the poem. The simplest type of simile occurs in the lines:
Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal
upon your arm;
for love is strong as death, jealousy is
cruel as the grave.In the following simile from Bishop Henry King’s Exequy (1624) on the death of his young wife, we are aware of a greater depth:
But hark! My pulse, like a soft drum,
Beates my approach, tells Thee I come.
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The “soft drum,” in conjunction with the “approach,” suggests both the advance party of the army nearing the billets for the night and the poet’s slow, inexorable, and welcome progress to death and reunion.
If the same image is used consistently throughout a poem, it may be appropriate to call it a symbol. It may be thought of also in terms of correspondences; a person, event, object, or myth is perceived by the poet to embody a number of significances, to which he directs the reader’s attention. Religious symbols offer the most familiar examples:
e.g., cross, cup, lamb, rose, candle. Birds, beasts, and reptiles, the heavenly bodies, sea and desert, forest and river, music and dance, artifacts of many kinds—all are symbols often used in poetry.
Certain metaphors and symbols, because they are constant throughout world literature, are often called archetypal (see archetype). Their continued vitality suggests that they correspond to profound and perennial aspects of the human situation. Among them are many myths, such as the descent into the underworld, the slaying of the dragon, the rescue from the enchanted castle; flowers of all kinds, often symbolizing womanhood or its virtues; tower, tree, cave; the sea voyage; fountain or well; and birds, beasts, and reptiles of many kinds. The investigation of archetypes has brought both anthropology and psychology to the service of literary criticism.
