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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
Act 4, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Knee-deep :
In one of the play’s more prominent sub-plots, the lovesick Jailer’s Daughter has a fit of temporary madness after releasing Palamon from the prison overseen by her father. The Wooer, a suitor to the Jailer’s Daughter, finds her sitting in a body of water, and after returning her to her home, he uses lush imagery to describe the scene in which he found her:
The place
Was knee-deep where she sat; her careless tresses,
A wreath of bulrush rounded; about her stuck
Thousand freshwater flowers of several colors,
That methought she appeared like the fair nymph
[…] or as Iris
Newly dropped down from heaven. Rings she made
Of rushes that grew by, and to ’em spoke
The prettiest posies. “Thus our true love’s tied,”
“This you may lose, not me,” and many a one;
And then she wept, and sung again, and sighed,
And with the same breath smiled and kissed her
hand.
The Wooer paints a picture of the Jailor’s Daughter in a highly idealized state of madness. Upon being found by the Wooer, she was “knee deep” in the water, the “careless tresses” of her hair wreathed by “bulrush,” or in other words, reed-like wetland plants found around many ponds. The wooer reports that she was surrounded by “Thousand freshwater flowers of several colors” and that she “appeared like the fair nymph,” a minor nature deity in Greek mythology. In addition to these vivid visual images, he describes the beautiful way she spoke and sang to herself while sitting in the river. This imagery emphasizes both her madness but also her harmlessness, as she is a danger only to herself.
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