T. S. Eliot- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock- Imagery

This is my second post about this oh-so-annoying-to-analyse-for-Lit poem. My first post is on context: http://year11misadventures.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/ts-eliot-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock.html.

Imagery: Information

I'm not really sure what the correct definition for "imagery" is but I guess it's just words that build up really strong mental images of stuff. There are different kinds of imagery that appeal to (not sure if that's the right word) different senses. Some images may not fit neatly into one category, but into multiple categories.

Visual imagery: Imagery related to sight.
Olfactory imagery: Imagery related to smell.
Kinesthetic imagery: Imagery related to movement.
Tactile imagery: Imagery related to touch.
Aural imagery: Imagery related to sound.
Gustatory imagery: Imagery related to taste.

There's probably other types but those are the categories that I know of.

Imagery in Prufrock

I'll do visual imagery last because much more imagery fits into that category than any other category.

Kinesthetic imagery: There's the yellow smoke/fog that "[rubs] its back," that "[curls] about the house" and "slides along the street." There's also a bit where Prufrock says that he is "pinned and wriggling on the wall."

Aural imagery: There's the "muttering retreats," the "music from a farther room," and the singing mermaids.

Visual imagery: The "yellow smoke" and "yellow fog," the overall image/metaphor/whatever of the cat or whatever domestic animal that is in that stanza, "lift and drop a question on your plate," Prufrock's description of himself, "arms that are braceleted and white and bare," "water white and black" and so on.

Now, where do we go with this imagery? Well, imagery's one of those generic conventions that you can use to help back up your statements in an essay. Also, you might have a question asking how imagery achieves desired effects, and then you can ramble on about the imagery above. If you don't know what to say, just pick an image and make stuff up. Okay, maybe you shouldn't do that if you want good marks. If you're really stuck though, it's better than writing nothing at all. You'd probably get something for at least writing down what type of imagery you're referring to, though I'm not sure because I'm not the one marking these things.