Mrs. Stephanie Loomis, 2011

1. IMAGERY
Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be
only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image
will be much more powerful than he could ever be.
Marshall McLuhan

2. ◦ The use of vivid or figurative language to
represent objects, actions, or ideas.
◦ The use of expressive or evocative images in
art, literature, or music.
◦ A group or body of related images, as in a
painting or poem.
Imagery

3. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:
 imagery, a rather vague critical term covering those uses of language
in a literary work that evoke sense‐impressions by literal or figurative
reference to perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or
states, as distinct from the language of abstract argument or
exposition. The imagery of a literary work thus comprises the set
of images that it uses; these need not be mental ‘pictures’, but may
appeal to senses other than sight. The term has often been applied
particularly to the figurative language used in a work, especially to its
metaphors and similes. Images suggesting further meanings and
associations in ways that go beyond the fairly simple identifications of
metaphor and simile are often called symbols. The critical emphasis on
imagery in the mid‐20th century, both in New Criticism and in some
influential studies of Shakespeare, tended to glorify the supposed
concreteness of literary works by ignoring matters of structure,
convention, and abstract argument: thus Shakespeare's plays were
read as clusters or patterns of ‘thematic imagery’ according to the
predominance of particular kinds of image (of animals, of disease,
etc.), without reference to the action or to the dramatic meaning of
characters' speeches. See also motif.
Imagery

4. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:
 imagery, a rather vague critical term covering those uses
of language in a literary work that evoke
by literal or figurative reference to
perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or
states, as distinct from the language of abstract argument
or exposition. The imagery of a literary work thus
comprises the set of images that it uses; these need not be
mental ‘pictures’, but may appeal to senses other than
sight. The term has often been applied particularly to the
figurative language used in a work, especially to its
metaphors and similes. Images suggesting further
meanings and associations in ways that go beyond the
fairly simple identifications of metaphor and simile are
often called symbols. The critical emphasis on imagery in
the mid‐20th century, both in New Criticism and in some
influential studies of Shakespeare, tended to glorify the
supposed concreteness of literary works by ignoring
matters of structure, convention, and abstract argument:
thus Shakespeare's plays were read as clusters or patterns
of ‘thematic imagery’ according to the predominance of
particular kinds of image (of animals, of disease, etc.),
without reference to the action or to the dramatic meaning
of characters' speeches. See also motif.

5. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:
 imagery, a rather vague critical term covering those uses
of language in a literary work that evoke
sense‐impressions by literal or figurative reference to
perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or
states, as distinct from the language of abstract argument
or exposition. The imagery of a literary work thus
comprises the set of images that it uses
The term has often been applied particularly to the
figurative language used in a work, especially to its
metaphors and similes. Images suggesting further
meanings and associations in ways that go beyond the
fairly simple identifications of metaphor and simile are
often called symbols. The critical emphasis on imagery in
the mid‐20th century, both in New Criticism and in some
influential studies of Shakespeare, tended to glorify the
supposed concreteness of literary works by ignoring
matters of structure, convention, and abstract argument:
thus Shakespeare's plays were read as clusters or patterns
of ‘thematic imagery’ according to the predominance of
particular kinds of image (of animals, of
disease, etc.), without reference to the action or to the
dramatic meaning of characters' speeches. See also motif.

6. Sight

7. Sight

8. Sight as Imagery

9. Sight as imagery

10. Sound

11. Sound

12. Sound as Imagery

13. Taste

14. Taste as Imagery

15. Taste as Imagery

16. Taste as Imagery

17. Taste as Imagery

18. Taste as Imagery?

19. Touch

20. Touch as Imagery

21. Touch as Imagery

22. Touch as Imagery?

23. Touch?

24. Smell

25. Smell

26. Smell as Imagery

27. Smell as Imagery

28. Who were the masters
of Imagery?
Poets of all generations of course, and then came…

29. The Transcendentalists
Who?

30.  New Englanders mostly
Transcendentalists

31.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
Transcendentalists

32.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
Transcendentalists

33.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
Transcendentalists

34.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
 Well educated
Transcendentalists

35.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
 Well educated
 Well to do
Transcendentalists

36.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
 Well educated
 Well to do
 Looking for a “new” approach to religion
and spirituality
Transcendentalists

37.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
 Well educated
 Well to do
 Looking for a “new” approach to religion
and spirituality
 Just before the (un)Civil War
Transcendentalists

38.  New Englanders mostly
 Love of nature
 Rebelling against industrialism
 Followed the Age of Enlightenment
 Well educated
 Well to do
 Looking for a “new” approach to religion and
spirituality
 Just before the (un)Civil War
 Wanted to create a distinctively American
style of literature
Transcendentalists

39. Who were these guys?
Glad you asked

40. Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Lived 1803-1882
Most famous work: Nature, a
collection of essays published
anonymously at first.
Core Beliefs: individualism,
non-conformity, harmony
between man and nature
Proponent of abolition
Spoke out against cruelty to
Native Americans
Believed in a “God Immanent”
(God is in everything and
God is everything.)

41. Emerson
Emphasized the spiritual
“inner self.”
Studied a variety of
philosophers and spiritual
guides, including Confucius,
Plato, St. Augustine, Sir
Francis Bacon, and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
His work continues to
influence writers, artists,
philosophers, and
contemporary culture.

50. Enough of Emerson
He’s everywhere!

51. Walt Whitman
1819-1892
Self taught after becoming a
printer’s apprentice.
Teacher in a one room
schoolhouse from ages 17 to
24.
Became a journalist at 24
Used poetry to express his
philosophies.
In 1855 he published Leaves
of Grass, with 12 untitled
poems.

52. Whitman
Continued to refine, edit, and
add to the publication until
1882.
Worked in New Orleans in
1848 and became a key
abolitionist upon his return to
New York.
Worked with the wounded
during the (un)Civil War and
eventually worked for the
Department of the Interior. He
was fired when the Secretary
of the Interior learned
Whitman was the author of
Leaves of Grass.

53. Whitman
Whitman never became
wealthy, but worked until his
death in 1892.
He cared for an invalid brother
and widowed mother.
Lived simply.
Believed in the power of man,
essential goodness, beauty
and truth. He believed
individuals deserved freedom
to express themselves
artistically because they are
part of God.
He was one of the first to
teach the divinity of man.

54. now then
Whitman’s home

55. Whitman sounds a little
crazy
Is there anyone else?

56. Henry David Thoreau
You ain’t seen nothing yet.

57. 1817-1862
Thoreau made nature
his religion.
“…one of his first
memories was of
staying awake at
night "looking through
the stars to see if I
could see God behind
them." One might say
he never stopped
looking into nature for
ultimate Truth.”
Thoreau

58. At 28, he decided to
leave civilization and
commune with
Nature.
He moved to a small
cabin on Walden Pond
(Massachusetts), on
land owned by Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
He lived off the land
(mostly) for over two
years, and wrote his
most famous work:
Walden; or Life in the
Woods.
Thoreau

59. His book didn’t sell at
first, so for nine years
he rewrote it while
working as a surveyor
and a pencil maker.
He became a lecturer
as well, speaking
mostly about his time
at Walden.
He also lectured
against slavery and
for civil disobediences
when the cause was
just.
Thoreau

60. He died of
tuberculosis at 44.
His work has never
been out of print, and
continues to be a
standard course of
study in disciplines far
outside the literary
world.
Thoreau

63. So now what do we do?
There must be a catch

64.  Read a selection from Whitman or
Thoreau
 Write an explanation/analysis of the
written work
 Create the image using photographs and
photo manipulation
 Prepare a presentation for the class on
your literature and image
HOMEWORK

65. God will see that you do not want
society…