Clavis Libri

Literary device

Sensory Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched) and makes the reader perceive the scene, not just understand it.

In Notes from Underground

There, in his disgusting, stinking underground, our offended, beaten, and mocked mouse plunges at once into a cold, venomous, and above all eternal rage.

The adjectives «disgusting and stinking» and «cold, venomous» give the underground smell and temperature. The reader feels the place where the rage is kept, and the dampness of the image weighs more than any explanation.

Part One: The Underground, the underground man

Today snow is falling, almost wet, yellow, murky. [...] So then let it be a narrative apropos of wet snow.
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Part One: The Underground, the underground man

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