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Idioms
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
Volume 1, Part 1: Chapters 14–17
Explanation and Analysis—The Rostov Family Party:
In a scene that features vivid and festive imagery, the Rostov family and their guests sit down to a sumptuous meal:
Servants bustled about, chairs scraped, music began playing in the gallery, and the guests seated themselves. The sounds of the count’s household music were replaced by the sounds of knives and forks, the talk of the guests, the soft footsteps of the servants. One side of the long table was occupied by the older young people: Vera sat next to Berg, Pierre next to Boris [...] From behind the crystal, the bottles, and the bowls of fruit, the count kept glancing at his wife and her tall cap with blue ribbons, and diligently poured wine for his neighbors, not forgetting himself.
Here, Tolstoy includes rich sensory details in his depiction of the lively dinner party. While the servants scurry about in the background, the guests take to their seats. The Count, an enthusiastic host, peers over the "crystal, the bottles, and the bowls of fruit" and glances at the Countess, who is adorned with a "tall cap with blue ribbons." In this scene, Tolstoy is particularly attentive to auditory details, noting the sound of "chairs scraping" and the music "playing in the gallery." As the party gets into full swing, the music is replaced by "the sounds of knives and forks, the talk of the guests, the soft footsteps of the servants." Through this vivid imagery, Tolstoy adds a lively, festive quality to this domestic scene.
Related Themes:
Volume 1, Part 1: Chapters 18–21
Explanation and Analysis—Count Bezukhov's Chamber:
In his detailed depiction of the room where Count Bezukhov spends the final moments of his life, Tolstoy uses rich imagery:
The part of the room behind the columns, where on one side stood a high mahogany bed under a silk canopy and on the other an enormous stand with icons, was brightly lit with red light, as is usual in churches during evening services. Under the shining casings of the icons stood a long Voltaire armchair, and on the chair, its upper part spread with snow-white, unrumpled, apparently just-changed pillows, covered to the waist with a bright green coverlet, lay the majestic figure, so familiar to Pierre, of his father, Count Bezukhov [...]
Here, the room is described with striking visual details that establish the grandeur and almost religious solemnity of the moment. In the dark room, Pierre sees a "high mahogany bed under a silk canopy" and "an enormous stand" covered with religious icons. Count Bezukhov, Pierre observes, sits on a "long Voltaire armchair" beneath the "shining casings of the icons." Though Pierre has not been close to his father, he looks upon him with reverence, noting that he is a "majestic figure" as he lies surrounded by "snow-white, unrumpled, just-changed pillows" and a "bright green coverlet." Here, Tolstoy's imagery lends a religious, church-like atmosphere to the scene, which is "brightly lit with red light, as is usual in churches." The Count, wealthy and beloved, is well attended to in his final moments.
Related Themes:
Volume 2, Part 5: Chapters 18–22
Explanation and Analysis—The Comet of 1812:
Though Pierre worries for Natasha after her impulsive attempt to elope with the bigamous Anatole, putting an embarrassing and potentially ruinous end to her engagement with Prince Andrei, he is nevertheless struck by the grateful look she gives him when he offers to help her in the home of Marya Dmitrievna. Outside, he continues to dwell pleasurably upon Natasha's gratitude. At this pivotal moment in the novel, Tolstoy employs allusion, simile, and imagery in his depiction of the Great Comet of 1812:
Almost in the middle of that sky [...] stood the huge, bright comet of the year 1812—surrounded, strewn with stars on all sides, but different from them in its closeness to the earth, its white light and long, raised tail [...] Pierre, his eyes wet with tears, gazed joyfully at this bright star, which, having flown with inexpressible speed through immeasurable space on its parabolic course, suddenly, like an arrow piercing the earth, seemed to have struck here its one chosen spot in the black sky and stopped, its tail raised energetically, its white light shining and playing among the countless other shimmering stars.
Just as Pierre is beginning to feel more optimistic about the future, he sees a comet streak across the sky. Here, Tolstoy alludes to an actual historical comet, the Great Comet of 1812 (also sometimes referred to as the Great Comet of 1811), which was visible to the naked eye for an extended period of time and which was the object of a good deal of commentary in the early 19th century. In his depiction of the comet, Tolstoy employs striking imagery, noting the "white light and long, raised tail" of the comet, this "bright star" that was "strewn with stars on all sides." In a simile, he adds that it appeared "like an arrow piercing the earth." Pierre attributes great meaning to this noteworthy sight, feeling that it cements his status as a figure who will make a name for himself in the war against Napoleon.
