Imagery is God
Imagery is often overlooked in literary analysis in favor of metaphor, symbol, irony and such. But it is absolutely worth pointing out that the significance of imagery is so essential to the author and this text that it serves as the opening words of the first chapter. From that opening assertion, much of the bulk of the rest of that chapter proceeds to present compelling evidence seeking to justify those opening words:
"`ART IS THINKING IN IMAGES….This idea, first propounded, among others, by Potebnya, has permeated the consciousness of many. In Notes on the Theory of Literature he says: `There is no art without imagery, especially in poetry.’ `Like prose, poetry is, first and foremost, a mode of thinking and knowing.’"
Prose versus Poetry
While it is certainly true that this text overflows with actual examples of imagery, the most passages are those in which the author directly addresses the utilization of this literary tool. Great thought is put into explaining the particular uses of imagery, such as this example which separates the requirements of it in prose as opposed to verse:
“The poetic image is an instrument of the poetic language, while the prose image is a tool of abstraction: the watermelon instead of the round lampshade or the watermelon instead of the head is nothing more than an act of abstracting from an object and is in no way to be distinguished from head = sphere or watermelon = sphere. This is indeed a form of thinking, but it has nothing to do with poetry.”
Referenced Imagery
On the occasions when the actual use of imagery is presented, more often than not the author is referencing something written by another author. The book is filled with quotations from published works, but one of the most striking pure examples of imagery is derived from the personal confidence of a writer:
“Concerning Christ: He is no small, cowering figure bringing up the rear of a parade like a dog. He is not the kind to carry a flag at the back of a parade and then to be seen no more. `Christ Carrying a Flag’—that both is and isn't the Christ I have in mind. Do you know that when a flag is whipped about by the wind, we inevitably imagine someone huge and enormous standing in some relationship to it. That is, he doesn't just hold the flag or carry it.”
Translation: If it doesn't rain
Although generally speaking, the author does not seem to be particularly impressed with the prose of Arthur Conan Doyle relative to his stories about Sherlock Holmes—though, admittedly, the criticism is tempered by justifications for their failings—analysis does offer another opportunity for referencing the imagery of another. This is imagery that revelatory of the intellectual distance between the great detective and the regular copper, but also serves the purpose of illuminating the inherent enjoyment of Sherlock’s self-satisfaction with his own superiority:
The Inspector asks Holmes whether he plans to visit the scene of the crime:
"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It is entirely a question of barometric pressure."
Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
