Imagery
A description or illustration used to describe something figuratively.
- He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee.
- The children were screaming and shouting in the fields.
- It was dark and dim in the forest.
Imagery usually focuses on one of the 5 senses. In the first example it uses the sense of smell to help you imagine the scene. The second focuses on our hearing, both screaming and shouting are imagery. Imagery will usually help to indirectly characterize people in a story. For example in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" the narrator describes the eye of the old man as The "eye of a vulture". He uses imagery that show the man's obsessiveness.
She smelled the aroma wafting from the flowers.
Citations: http://literarydevices.net/imagery/, http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-does-edgar-allan-poe-use-imagery-characterize-2117, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJHb9EUXjpo