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Tactile imagery

Imagery
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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

Imagery that evokes the sense of touch—texture, temperature, pressure, or physical sensation—to create immersive, bodily poetic experience.

Detailed Definition
Tactile imagery consists of descriptive language that appeals specifically to the sense of touch—conveying texture, temperature, pressure, or physical sensation—to immerse the reader in embodied experience and evoke visceral, often intimate or primal, emotional responses within the poem.
Example
Example in poetry:
Tactile imagery: Robert Frost’s "After Apple-Picking": "My instep arch not only keeps the ache"; Seamus Heaney’s "Digging": "The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap"; Lucille Clifton: "my hips...these hips are mighty hips"; Contemporary: Ada Limón’s "The Leash" describes grass "pricking" bare feet
Additional Notes
Tactile imagery: Language that evokes the sense of touch (texture, temperature, pressure); enhances immersion and emotional resonance; often paired with kinesthetic or visual imagery.
Also Known As
Touch imagery Textural description Haptic language Physical sensation velvet phrase
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