Mueller, "Hope"

In Muellers poem "Hope," there are multiple uses of different imageries to make the poem more powerful for the reader. For example, the line "it shakes sleep from its eyes and drops from mushroom gills," is an example of tactile imagery because the poet tries to portray that hope lies within the gills of mushrooms which are under the mushroom head. There is hope within these gills because they are the smallest things and in order for the mushroom to survive, it mush drop from these gills into the earth. The gills themselves are rigged and give a great example of tactile imagery. An example of olfactory imagery is the line "it lives in each earthworm segment surviving cruelty." The poet in this line is trying to show that hope even lies in unlivable conditions, which do not have the greatest smell appeal. By using an earthworm as an example, one can actually connect to the olfactory image. An example of kinetic imagery is the line "it is the motion that runs from the eyes to the tail of a dog." This is a great example of kinetic imagery because a dog going around and around chasing its tail, hoping to catch it, is a great example of kinetic imagery. An example of auditory imagery is the line "it is the mouth that inflates the lungs of the child that has just been born." This is a wonderful example of auditory imagery because the sound of a young child taking in a breath and the sound the lungs make when they are getting filled with air is absolutely the sound of hope. An amazing use of visual imagery is used throughout the entire poem. What I mean is that the poem starts off by giving an example of hope that is in nothing or nowhere. Then the poems moves to mushrooms, to dandelions, to leaves, to potatoes, to earthworms, to dog, to man, steadily progressing to the most important. I think this is a great use of visual imagery.