Anne Bradstreet's Imagery

What allows for a writer to make the executive decision to utilize imagery? How can readers use their skill sets to best recognize and understand the reasoning behind the use of imagery in writing? What are the benefits and the drawbacks from using this literary device? To begin to understand the complex analytical tools surrounding imagery itself, one must understand what imagery is.

An explanation of imagery:

 https://youtu.be/uX413tALG7Q 

Once one understands the meaning of imagery, one can begin to analyze and assimilate the effects that nature-related imagery entails, and how those components play a part in the bigger picture/understanding of the writing being examined.

The readers being able to establish a connection between God and nature in both poems is incredibly beneficial. In "Contemplations", one can make this connection through deduction skills and close reading from stanza four. The speaker states in this stanza, "Then higher on the glistering Sun I gazed / Whose beams was shaded by the leavie tree / The more I looked, the more I grew amazed / And softly said, "What glory's like to thee?" / Soul of this world, this universe's eye / No wonder some made thee a deity / Had I not better known, alas, the same had I." (Bradstreet, lines 23-29). This quote has many aspects that explore a relation between God and nature. The use of "glistering sun" and the description of how the sun's beams were shaded by the "leavie tree" is, on its own, descriptive nature-related imagery. However, when adding in the religious-related elements like the speaker asking "What glory's like to thee?" and representing God by saying "Soul of this world, the universe's eye", readers are able to make a clear distinction on the connection between nature's elements and God/religious aspects through the utilization of imagery. In Bradstreet's "A Letter to My Husband", a prime example of the speaker making a connection between God and nature through the use of imagery is when she states, "Till nature's sad decree shall call thee hence / Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone / I here, thou there, yet both but one" (Bradstreet, lines 24-26). Calling to attention God and religions role in human morality serves the audience with a prime example of a connection with nature and God that they can more closely understand.

The reader being able to gather an invoked sense of awe and tranquility, and an overall better ability to understand the bounds that nature-related imagery serves because of the relatable quality it can have on them, can aid in the reader's journey for the purpose of digesting the poem with its emotionally intended purpose. For instance, in "Contemplations" by Anne Bradstreet, the speaker states, "Shall I then praise the heavens, the trees, the earth / Because their beauty and their strength last longer? / Shall I wish there, or never to had birth / Because they're bigger, and their bodies stronger?" (Bradstreet, lines 135-138). The use of nature-related imagery in this snippet is important because it allows for readers to glean the relatable meaning behind the use of beautiful and lyrical words. To say so much by saying something completely different from what the speaker truly means is to poke at human understanding at the core of its being. It is also important to note the impact that asking deep-rooted questions has on readers when also inputting delicate nature-related imagery. In "A Letter to My Husband" by Bradstreet, the speaker states, "In this dead time, alas, what can I more / Than view those fruits which through thy heat I bore? / Which sweet contentment yield me for a space / True living pictures of their father's face" (Bradstreet, lines 13-16). The significance that this quote serves readers is that it provides them with a human relatable example of a wife who feels as though she is missing a piece of herself when she is away from her husband. To add in nature-related imagery such as "fruits" and "space", it allows for a greater meaning to be added because of the use of universally acknowledged "great", or big, things. Also, if any of the readers have felt for another even a little bit of the love that the speaker describes for her husband, they are more likely to appreciate and value the poem more so than if they had not had any emotional connection to it.

When analyzing nature-related imagery, the use of colors, elements, and forms all provide an effect on how readers can become more attuned to a piece, and even potentially lead to an overall better understanding of the poem. In "Contemplations", the speaker states "The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride / Where gilded o'er by his rich golden head / Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true / Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hue / Rapt were my senses at this delectable view" (Bradstreet, lines 3-7). The use of this vibrant and particular language of imagery allows for readers to paint a clear picture in their heads from the nature they have personally seen, which therefore makes the reading experience itself more personal. For instance, in naming all of the colors of the leaves, one can paint that picture in their mind more easily and quickly. In "A Letter to My Husband", the speaker states "His warmth such frigid colds did cause to melt / My chilled limbs now numbed lie forlorn" (Bradstreet, lines 10-11). This excerpt is backed up by the visceral nature-related imagery that allows for readers to have a more visceral feeling associated with the reading of this passage. For instance, by the speaker using "frigid colds" and "chilled limbs", it provides a stark example of someone who is suffering, and in such a way that readers are able to feel they can fully comprehend the stakes by just the presented words. To speak by using different forms, colors, and elements involving nature-related imagery is to create a writing piece in which one's readers can more quickly and efficiently discern the purpose of the piece from the invoked feelings the vibrant language probes.

In conclusion, nature-related imagery provides readers with many different aspects and important features that add or contribute significant meaning to writing pieces. In a psychological study of imagery, they stated "As just described, imagery is multisensory such that it can include the sense of sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch. This description provides insight into why the term imagery is used instead of “visualization,” which denotes only the sense of sight. In addition, the individual is awake and consciously aware when imaging and as such not dreaming. In essence, imagery is creating, or recreating, the entirety of an experience in one’s mind." (Munroe et. al, 2017). Nature-related imagery allows for readers to comprehend and analyze a connection between God and nature, retain a more emotional driven connection from the relatable quality from the invoked sense of tranquility, and to observe the use of colors, forms, and elements and for those aspects to allow for readers to have a better and a quicker understanding of the full overall significance/purpose of the writing piece.