Imagery & the Senses
📋 What it is
Imagery uses sensory words (see, hear, smell, touch, taste) to paint a picture.
🗣️ Coach says
Great poems make you SENSE things. Instead of "it was nice", show it: "warm bread, crackling crust". Naming what you see, hear, smell, touch or taste turns words into an experience.
🧠 Memory hook
Show, don't tell. Use the five senses to paint a picture in the reader's mind.
😂 Giggle
Why did the haiku love nature?
Because it almost always paints a tiny picture of the season!
😲 Whoa!
Our brains react to vivid sensory words almost as if we're really seeing or smelling the thing — imagery is a kind of magic.
✅ Quick check: Which is stronger imagery: "the food was good" or "steam curled off the spicy noodles"?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
The second — it uses sight, smell and taste to show, not tell.
Sensory detail creates a vivid picture; "good" is vague.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Describe your breakfast using three different senses (smell, taste, sound).