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Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Orgy:
As Paul leaves behind the world of the silver stage and the German soloist, retreating back to his home, Cather makes ample use of both metaphor and imagery to describe his emotional state:
The moment he turned into Cordelia Street he felt the waters close above his head. After each of these orgies of living he experienced all the physical depression which follows a debauch; the loathing of respectable beds, of common food, of a house penetrated by kitchen odors; a shuddering repulsion for the flavorless, colorless mass of everyday existence; a morbid desire for cool things and soft lights and fresh flowers.
Through metaphor, the narrator compares Paul’s experience as an usher at Carnegie Hall to an orgy and his retreat back to Cordelia Street as the “physical depression” following the debauchery. This emphasizes the nearly sexual nature of the enjoyment Paul receives from living in an alternate reality. The “come down” is akin to that which addicts experience after a high. Off in his own fantasy world, disconnected from the harsh reality of Cordelia Street, Paul experiences a dream-like state of bliss not unlike a drug-induced ecstasy. The narrator frames Paul's desires in this state as "morbid," a word one might feasibly use to describe sexual or drug-related desires.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Christmas Pantomime:
In the following excerpt, Cather connects Paul’s desires to some imagined, mythical world, using simile to describe the building the German soloist enters as a “fairy world” seen only in a “Christmas pantomime”:
There it was, what he wanted—tangibly before him, like the fairy world of a Christmas pantomime; as the rain beat in his face, Paul wondered whether he were destined always to shiver in the black night outside, looking up at it.
The phrase "Christmas pantomime" refers to a play, likely something akin to The Nutcracker—a traditional seasonal tale containing all manner of fantastical elements. In fact, The Nutcracker is set on Christmas Eve and takes place within a child's imaginary landscape. Performed as a ballet written by Tchaikovsky, the imagery of this particular "pantomime" serves as an evocative painting of the heightened sensations and vivid mythical beauty of Paul's imaginary world. This contrasts directly with the frigid cold of reality, the "black night" and the rain beating in Paul's face, representing the harsh nature of the world he must return to when he awakens from the dream.
This imagery is doubly effective because it connects to an earlier scene: the doorway is illuminated like some kind of stage, contrasting with the surrounding darkness. Paul cannot enter with building with the German soloist—he can only observe her going in. He only exists in the darkness of the audience, spectating but never participating.
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Explanation and Analysis—Weather and Imagination:
In the following passage, Cather uses imagery to describe Paul's internal state in the language of his external environment. In more dramatic, figurative prose, it is common to see an author use the weather as shorthand for depicting a character's emotions. Paul is no exception to this:
He seemed to feel himself go after her up the steps, into the warm, lighted building, into an exotic, tropical world of shiny, glistening surfaces and basking ease. He reflected upon the mysterious dishes that were brought into the dining room, the green bottles in buckets of ice, as he had seen them in the supper party pictures of the Sunday World supplement. A quick gust of wind brought the rain down with sudden vehemence, and Paul was startled to find that he was still outside in the slush of the gravel driveway.
In the German soloist's world, the weather is “exotic” and “tropical.” This is emphasized by the description of the atmosphere as "warm" and "lighted," two words that invite readers to imagine this soloist's surrounding environment as inviting and pleasant. This building she enters contains the heightened fervor and beauty of an imagined idyll, a place of magic that Paul wishes to enter but cannot. His exposure to this beautiful atmosphere is cut short by the grim reality of his surroundings, and the rain’s “sudden vehemence.” With the implied tactile imagery of a "quick gust of wind" bringing cold rain onto him, Paul is awoken from the dream.
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Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Winter Flowers:
The following passage comes after Paul exits his hotel into the harsh winter of New York City. He is surprised by the brilliancy he finds outside, despite the harsh winter. Cather employs one particular excerpt as imagery, representing Paul's relationship to the landscape around him:
Here and there on the corners were stands, with whole flower gardens blooming under glass cases, against the sides of which the snowflakes stuck and melted; violets, roses, carnations, lilies of the valley--somehow vastly more lovely and alluring that they blossomed thus unnaturally in the snow.
Using imagery, Cather juxtaposes the bright and vibrant flowers against the harsh, frigid backdrop of their wintry surroundings. This image serves as a metaphorical representation of Paul's emotional and psychological state, as well as his position in life. From his own perspective, Paul is a beautiful flower—born to be different, to stand out, to enjoy art and music and theater and debauchery. Like these flowers, if left outside in the winter snow for long, Paul will certainly wither and die, overtaken by the unforgiving icy harshness of his environment. Cordelia Street is to Paul as winter is to the flowers; not, as one might assume, because he is of a weak constitution, but because society is inherently hostile towards people like him.
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