Home › Glossary › Letter O

Ocean imagery

Imagery
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Symbols or pictures in poetry based on oceans, often connoting power or infinity

Detailed Definition
Ocean imagery employs the sea—its waves, depths, tides, and creatures—as a rich symbolic field representing the unconscious, emotional vastness, danger, renewal, or the sublime, appearing from Homer’s epics to modern eco-poetry as a primal, fluid metaphor for human experience.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Full fathom five thy father lies" (Shakespeare), using imagery of deep sea and coral; Describing the vast, blue expanse of the ocean horizon; Imagery of waves crashing against a rocky shore; A description of the hidden life in a coral reef;
Additional Notes
Ocean imagery: The use of sensory details and figurative language (metaphor, simile) relating to the sea, waves, tides, depths, or the seashore to evoke themes of vastness, mystery, power, change, eternity, or emotion; a powerful and common motif.
Also Known As
sea imagery maritime imagery oceanic symbolism Aquatic imagery oceanic phrase
Skip to main content