IMAGERY AND PERSONIFICATION

INTERPRETATION

OUR INTERPRETATION

• Peyton Farquhar is standing at a railroad bridge waiting to be hung.
• He imagines himself swimming to freedom, as the sergeant steps off the board that is keeping him from his death.
• Farquhar is actually a planter, unable to join the war on the Confederates side.
• One day, a soldier, who appears to be a confederate, comes to ask for a drink of water.
• The soldier tricked Farquhar into thinking that he would help the south when in reality, he would be hung for sabotage.

OUR INTERPRETAION

• Farquhar becomes unconscious as he drops down and the noose breaks, sending him into the river
• He escapes and comes upon a path leading to his home. He sees his wife and then bright white light fills his vision.
• He was actually dead, hanging from the Owl Creek Bridge.
• He either had a vivid hallucination or a delusion about the escape.

IMAGERY

• AUTHOR USES WORDS AND PHRASES TO CREATE “MENTAL IMAGES” FOR THE READER
• " A straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his ... dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock
• The author used it because it gives the reader an image in their head about what the man looks like.
• "Her blue eyes were as bright as the Sun, blue as the sky, but soft as silk. "

PERSONIFICATION

• PRACTICE OF ATTACHING HUMAN TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS WITH INANIMATE OBJECTS,AND ANIMALS
• "....To the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. "
• "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current."
• The author used personification because it relates what he is describing to things the reader knows.

QUIZ

QUIZ TIME: ANSWER I FOR IMAGERY & P FOR PERSONIFICATION

• “The warm and comforting fire”
• "The gushing brook stole its way down the lush green mountains, dotted with tiny flowers in a riot of colors ."
• “The raging winds”
• "Where the ocean kissed the southern shore "