With the use of imagery, the reader can foreshadow what is to happen in the story. An example of this is when Angela, Madeline’s nurse, exclaims that her health is not good by saying, “Ah! Why wilt though affright a feeble soul? /A poor, weak, palsy-stricken, churchyard thing, /Whose passing bell may ere the midnight toll…” (154-156). Angela asks why would Porphyro, Madeline’s lover, scare Angela’s fragile soul when she is weak and suffering from an illness. Madeline also warns Porphyro that she could die tonight as well. Since Madeline is weak and sick, the reader’s understand that tragedy may occur in the story that deals with Angela. Another example of imagery foreshadowing a story occurs when Madeline is near asleep. “Never on such a night have lovers met, /Since Merlin paid his Demon all the monstrous debt…” (170-171). Merlin paid his monstrous debt when his beloved Vivien turns Merlin’s spells against him. The speaker appeals to the reader’s emotion with imagery and a metaphor. By using the imagery, the reader can imagine a dark night and feel a sadness because the metaphor describes a night that leads to an awful event between Madeline and Porphyro.
Although imagery can foreshadow the story for the reader, the reader can acquire the mood of the story by the imagery as well. The imagery of a bitter freezing winter along with a dead silence gives the story a sad and cold beginning. The winter is so cold that “The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass…” (2-3). The owl’s feathers were frozen and the rabbit was trembling as he limped through the icy grass. The imagery in these lines gives the reader of a chill and sets the standard mood for the story; the mood of frustration as well as a bitter chill. Silence also plays a part in the imagery. Silence is usually associated with death; the quiet and stillness scares many people as death scares many people. “…And silent as the flock in woolly fold…” (5). Sheep, usually a nosy bunch of animals, were quiet on this freezing day. With the silence, the reader’s can get a grave feeling. The imagery of a bitter winter still lingers in the opening stanzas as the reader describes a beadsman. “…Numb were the beadsman’s fingers, while he told/ His Rosary, and while his frosted breath, /Like pious incense from a censer old…” (5-7). The winter’s cold numbed the beadsman’s fingers. Numbing usually occurs near freezing point, so the reader can get a sense of how cold the winter was. The beadsman’s breath was as thick as incense. The reader can develop an image of desolation or sadness. In addition to the imagery used to describe how cold it is, the speaker uses strong imagery to the beadsman’s feeling as well as the freezing temperature that haunts the beadsman throughout the opening stanzas. “…Knights, ladies, praying in dumb orat’ries, /He passeth by, and his weak spirit fails /To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails…” (16-18). The beadsman now feels sad that the statues of the dead are freezing in the coldness. The speaker described the hoods and mails of the statues are frozen with ice. The reader can feel a sense of despair because the dead and the beadsman are freezing and yet, this poor guy feels more sadness. The powerful use of imagery used sets the mood for the rest of the story.
As the mood of the poem has already been set with the imagery used in the opening stanzas, the concluding stanzas conclude the mood of the poem with its sad imagery. Madeline expresses her grief as she says, “How changed thou art! how pallid, chill, and drear!” (311). Madeline says that Porphyro looks sick and not healthy. Madeline’s dreams were pure and deep, but as she woke up, she saw Porhyro, who looked imperfect as