Home › Glossary › Letter T

Textural 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

Imagery that conveys the tactile feel or surface quality of objects.

Detailed Definition
Textural Imagery appeals to the sense of touch by describing surfaces as rough, smooth, sticky, or brittle; it grounds abstract ideas in physical reality, enhancing sensory immersion—such as “velvet dusk” or “gritty despair”—and often symbolizes emotional or moral qualities through physical sensation in poetic language.
Example
Example in poetry:
Velvet petals brushed her cheek like a sigh; Sandpaper bark scraped his palms raw; Silk sheets slid cool against fevered skin; Gravel crunched like broken glass underfoot; Frost feathered the window in delicate lace; Wool blankets scratched like old regrets
Additional Notes
Textural Imagery focuses on surface qualities—rough, smooth, sticky—to engage touch and evoke emotion; often paired with visual or thermo-tactile imagery; useful for intimacy or discomfort; students should use precise tactile vocabulary (“granular,” “slick”) rather than generic terms; poets like Pablo Neruda (“Ode to My Socks”) celebrate texture to elevate the mundane
Also Known As
Tactile Surface Imagery Feel-Based Imagery Haptic Imagery
Skip to main content