Previous
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
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—"The Oak Tree":
Throughout Orlando, Woolf utilizes imagery to engage the human senses when discussing Orlando's poem "The Oak Tree." At the end of the novel, when Orlando finally finishes constructing the poem after hundreds of years, she decides to leave it on the ground near the very tree that served as its inspiration. Woolf's narrator uses multiple types of figurative language to depict the full-circle moment of Orlando burying her poem. However, the use of imagery is particularly prevalent in visually illustrating one of the the novel's final moments:
She had thought then of the oak tree here on its hill. And what has that got to do with this, she had wondered? What has praise and fame got to do with poetry? [...] So she let her book lie unburied and dishevelled on the ground, and watched the vast view, varied like an ocean floor this evening with the sun lightening it and the shadows darkening it.
The narrator's use of imagery ("the sun lightening it and the shadows darkening it") brings the simile of the "ocean floor" landscape to life. By provoking the human sense of sight and, to be more specific, contrast, the reader can more fully imagine the beauty of this moment in Orlando's life. "The Oak Tree" not only symbolizes the growth of Orlando throughout the novel, but the growth and evolution of the societies in which she lives. The oak tree starts out small in the 17th century, but over time it grows and flourishes. By the end of the novel, Orlando places the physical poem underneath the fully grown oak tree in her ancestral home, a sign of full-circle flourishing that encompasses both the light and the dark.
In a literal sense, Orlando merely places her book of poetry underneath the tree, but the narrator's use of imagery heightens the scene and highlights the importance of nature to Orlando and to the novel as a whole. Additionally, the imagery exposes the tension between nature and man-made praise. Orlando knows that her poem truly belongs to nature, rather than those who might praise her for writing it—for nature provided Orlando with the poem's ultimate inspiration.
Related Themes:
