What is the imagery used at The Seafarer?Definition and examples of imagery

The "Seafarer" is an Anglo Saxon elegy that begins with a
concrete description of the sea and ends with abstractions about the past, faith, and
rules of conduct.  The beginning of the poem is filled with images that convey the
miserable life of one sailing the north seas.  Images are descriptive words and phrases
that appeal to our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and
touch.

The images used in the poem appeal to many different
senses.  We have auditory (hearing) images of the "smashing surf," "the deah-noise of
birds," the "mewing of gulls," the echoes of the "icy-feathered terns," the "eagle's
screams."  We also have such tactile (touch) images as the "icy bands" of sleet, the
"ice-cold sea" as well as the visual (sight) images of the tossig salt waves and the
"towering sea."

These images work to make the reader feel
as if he or she is experiening the sea just as the seafarer did long ago.  We understand
the sea's hardships--the cold, the loneliness, and the danger--and the difficult life
that the seafarer has chosen.