Imagery in Poetry

James Wright poem “A Blessing” applies the use of imagery to carry its message across. As he is describing the scene where the horses come happily out of the trees, the author uses an oxymoronic phrase that surprises the reader. “And the eyes of those two Indian ponies, Darken with kindness.” Similarly, he applies an arresting visual simile to describe the love between the two horses. The poet compares the touching of the heads of the horses to swans as they bow their heads and form a heart shape between them. His goal is to show that the two animals love each other despite their quiet and remote surroundings. In “Traveling Through the Dark,” the poem by William Stafford, he talks about the conflict between man and nature. The poem presents a rather grim picture of the clash between the two, applying a conversational style to communicate its central theme. The poet uses very simple words, but through them describes important concepts. When the poet refers to a “group” witnessing the events, he is referring to the deer, the man, the unborn fawn and by extension the whole of nature. Similarly, when he says “I dragged her off, she was large in the belly,” he is making reference to the fact that the doe was pregnant. And the line “Alive, still, never to be born” alludes to the natural cycle of life, and how that cycle is broken. Lucille Clifton’s poem “Homage To My Hips” has hips as being the focal point of the poem. However, the “hips” symbolize much more. As is typical for the poet, she alludes to women’s resilience in the face of oppression. The lines “These hips are big hips, they need space to move around in They don’t fit into petty places” tell of how women need the same opportunities as men to thrive. Similarly, the lines “these hips have never been enslaved, they go where they want to go they do what they want to do” symbolize unfettered freedom that enables women to lead their lives.