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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
Part 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—From the Air Alone:
Dostoevesky employs imagery, simile, and hyperbole in his description of the bar where Raskolnikov first meets former government official Semyon Marmeladov:
The proprietor of the establishment was in another room, but frequently came into the main room, descending a flight of stairs from somewhere [...] He was wearing a long-skirted coat and a terribly greasy black satin waistcoat, with no necktie, and his whole face was as if oiled like an iron padlock [...] There were chopped pickles, rusks of black bread, and fish cut into pieces, all quite evil-smelling. It was so stuffy that it was almost impossible to sit there, and everything was so saturated with wine-smell that it seemed one could get drunk in five minutes from the air alone.
Raskolnikov enters the bar in an agitated state after completing a “trial” of his plan to murder an elderly pawnbroker. The narrator describes the bar with rich imagery, noting the “greasy” clothing of the proprietor, the “evil-smelling” food sold there, the “stuffy” atmosphere that almost discourages Raskolnikov from sitting down. In a simile, the narrator compares the oily proprietor to an “iron padlock” and hyperbolically claims that the smell of wine is so strong that a person might “get drunk in five minutes from the air alone.” The various literary devices used in this passage underscore the seedy and unwholesome aspects of the bar frequented by the alcoholic Marmeladov.
Part 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Raskolnikov's Dream:
Dostoevsky uses vivid imagery when narrating Raskolnikov’s “terrible dream” upon falling asleep in a highly agitated state after drinking some vodka:
He dreamed of his childhood, while still in their little town. He is about seven years old and is strolling with his father on a feast day, towards evening, outside of town. The weather is gray, the day is stifling, the countryside is exactly as it was preserved in his memory: it was even far more effaced in his memory than it appeared now in his dream. The town stands open to view; there is not a single willow tree around it; somewhere very far off, at the very edge of the sky, is the black line of a little forest.
Because of his strong feelings of turmoil, Raskolnikov has unusually realistic dreams that are difficult to separate from reality. After falling asleep in public, he has a dream about an actual memory from his childhood in which some peasants cruelly beat an overburdened horse. The village of his childhood is depicted here with sharp imagery, including the “gray” and “stifling” weather. In particular, Dostoevsky invokes visual imagery in his description of the treeless town and the “black line” of a distant forest. This dream is, surprisingly, more detailed than Raskolnikov’s actual memory, and perhaps for this reason it has a strong impact on his psyche, suggesting to him that he is not emotionally ready to kill a person.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Leaf :
The narrator uses vivid imagery and a series of similes to describe Lizaveta when she enters the apartment and discovers that her sister has been murdered and the murderer is still in the apartment:
Lizaveta was standing in the middle of the room, with a big bundle in her hands, frozen, staring at her murdered sister, white as a sheet, and as if unable to utter a cry. Seeing him run in, she trembled like a leaf, with a faint quivering, and spasms ran across her whole face; she raised her hand, opened her mouth, yet still did not utter a cry, and began slowly backing away from him [...]. He rushed at her with the axe; she twisted her lips pitifully, as very small children do when they begin to be afraid of something, stare at the thing that frightens them, [...]
In this dramatic scene, the narrator provides a series of striking images, such as the “spasms” that “ran across her whole face” and the single hand raised up feebly against an ax. Additionally, the narrator describes Lizaveta as being “white as a sheet,” unable to move or speak due to her shock. Rather than taking any defensive action or trying to escape, she “trembled like a leaf” and “twisted her lips pitifully, as very small children do.” These similes emphasize the helplessness of Lizaveta, who is, despite her age, too simple and innocent to save herself from Raskolnikov. While Raskolnikov can, through twisted logic, justify murdering the pawnbroker to himself, he is rattled by his own slaying of the sweet and defenseless woman.
Related Themes:
Part 6, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Svidrigailov's Dream:
After being violently rejected by Dunya, Svidrigailov falls into a state of dull despair. Taking her gun, which once belonged to his own late wife and which still has one bullet in the chamber, he walks around St. Petersburg despondently and gives away his remaining money before checking into a cheap hotel room. In his depiction of a dream that Svidrigailov has that night, Dostoevsky employs striking imagery:
He imagined a lovely landscape; a bright, warm, almost hot day, a feast-day, the day of the Trinity. A rich, luxurious country cottage in the English style, all sunk in fragrant flowerbeds, with rows surrounding the entire house; the porch, entwined with climbing plants, filled with banks of roses; a bright, cool stairway, laid with sumptuous carpet, adorned with rare flowers in Chinese jars. He noticed especially the bouquets of white and tender narcissus, in jars of water on the windowsills, bending on long, bright green, fleshy stems, with their heavy, sweet scent.
Here, Dostoevsky primarily draws from the sense of sight in his vivid presentation of Svidrigailov’s dream. Svidrigailov dreams of a serene and beautiful country landscape on a “bright, warm” day, with an "English style" cottage and various plants and flowers, from the vines that surround the porch to the “rare flowers in Chinese jars.” He also invokes the sense of smell, noting the “fragrant flowerbeds.” Dostoevsky is particularly detailed in his depiction of the “bouquets of white and tender narcissus,” a flower traditionally associated with vanity and that lends its name to the word “narcissism.”
