Imagery

Imagery is, of course, an extremely important part of any literature, not just poems, but novels and other writing as well. Imagery makes us picture the characters, visiualize the locations, see the objects. What Oliver points out, though, is that imagery can be anything as simple as saying the "yellow sweater" or as detailed and precise as a description of every last stitch. I am used to calling something imagery when a particularly powerful image is conjured up or a wonderfully detailed description given, but imagery is inevitably a part of every piece of writing, and if it was not we would just see words. Thankfully, we have imagery to help us imagine the poem. Oliver discusses different ways to convey imagery, including analogies, personification, and allusions. I already had a good understanding of these terms, knew the definition of them all, and could easily recognize them, but it was at least interesting to see the examples and to see Oliver's opinion of their importance and their use. While imagery is an integral part of writing, it is not, and Oliver does recognize this, something that a poem can rely soley on, rather a strategy that improves and enlivens a poem.