Imagery and symbolism · Year 13
Imagery is language that creates pictures in the reader's mind, through the senses and through comparisons. A symbol is an object, colour or character that stands for a bigger idea. When you analyse them, explain what they suggest and why the writer chose them.
Key facts
- Sensory imagery appeals to the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste: The bread smelt warm and sweet.
- Figurative imagery compares: a simile uses like or as (as still as glass), a metaphor says one thing is another (The classroom was a zoo.) and personification makes things act like people (The fog crept.).
- Symbols stand for ideas: a dove for peace, a storm for trouble, a candle for hope, winter for old age or death, a crossroads for a difficult choice.
- A motif is an image or symbol that comes back again and again in a text, such as a ticking clock or a closed door, building up its meaning each time.
- Connotations are the feelings a word brings: golden suggests something warm and precious; rotting suggests decay. To analyse, name the image, quote it, say what it suggests and explain its effect on the reader.