The best examples of examples of imagery in sonnets (with real lines)

Let’s start where most conversations about sonnets eventually land: Shakespeare. When people ask for examples of imagery in sonnets, they usually mean, “Show me lines that I can actually feel, not just admire from a distance.” Shakespeare is still one of the best examples of how to do that.

Take Sonnet 18, one of the most quoted poems in English:

“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

You can almost feel that gust of wind hitting a spring garden. The “rough winds” are tactile imagery; the “darling buds of May” are visual and emotional at the same time. This is a textbook example of how imagery makes an abstract idea (time passing, beauty fading) feel physical.

A few lines later, he writes:

“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d.”

Here, the “eye of heaven” is the sun, and its “gold complexion” is pure visual color imagery. You’re not just told the sun is bright; you’re given a face, a mood, and a color. When teachers look for a clean example of imagery in sonnets, this is usually near the top of the list.

Love, touch, and time: examples of imagery in sonnets about relationships

Love sonnets are basically laboratories for sensory detail. The best examples of imagery in sonnets about love don’t just say “I love you”; they show you what that love feels like in the body.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 from Sonnets from the Portuguese is famous for its opening line:

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

The real imagery kicks in a few lines later:

“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.”

That phrase “depth and breadth and height” is spatial imagery. You can picture love stretching in three dimensions, like a room you could walk around in. It turns an emotion into something almost architectural.

Later she adds:

“I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life…”

Now we’re in full sensory mode: breath (touch and sound), smiles (sight), tears (touch and taste). These lines are strong examples of examples of imagery in sonnets because they anchor a big, abstract word—love—in everyday bodily experience.

Shakespeare does something similar but more ironic in Sonnet 130:

“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red…”

Even though he’s denying the usual comparisons, he’s still using vivid imagery: sun, coral, red lips. You see color, shape, light. This is a great example of how imagery can work even in a “negative” comparison.

Nature and seasons: examples include storms, sunsets, and bare branches

If love is the favorite subject of sonnets, nature is a close second. Many of the best examples of imagery in sonnets come from poets trying to describe a season so clearly that you feel the weather on your skin.

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, he compares himself to late autumn:

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold…”

This is a layered example of imagery in sonnets. You can see the yellow leaves, hear the branches shake, and almost feel the chill. The description of the tree becomes a stand‑in for the speaker’s aging body.

Then he pushes the imagery further:

“In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west…”

Twilight, sunset, fading light—this is visual imagery doing emotional work. The fading day is also a fading life. When students ask for a clear example of how imagery supports theme, this sonnet is a strong, real example.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, in his sonnet “God’s Grandeur,” gives us another kind of nature imagery:

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil…”

That phrase “shining from shook foil” is one of the best examples of modern‑feeling imagery in a traditional sonnet form. You can see the quick, flickering light on crumpled metal. It’s visual, but it also has a hint of sound and motion.

Sound, rhythm, and music: examples of auditory imagery in sonnets

Imagery isn’t just what you see; it’s also what you hear. Some of the most underrated examples of imagery in sonnets are auditory.

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29, he writes:

“Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate…”

You can hear that lark at break of day. The sound of the bird carries the speaker’s mood from “sullen earth” to “heaven’s gate.” This is a subtle example of imagery in sonnets where sound and metaphor work together.

John Keats, in his sonnet “Bright Star,” leans into both sound and stillness:

“Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night…”

The phrase “lone splendor” has a quiet, ringing quality. You don’t just see the star; you hear the hush around it. Later he adds tactile imagery:

“Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell…”

Here, the “soft fall and swell” of breath is both sound and touch. It’s one of the best examples of intimate, bodily imagery in a sonnet.

Modern life in 14 lines: contemporary examples of imagery in sonnets

Sonnets didn’t stop with Shakespeare. Contemporary poets are still writing them—and filling them with imagery that looks like our world. If you’re teaching in 2024 or 2025, students often respond better when examples of imagery in sonnets include phones, trains, city lights, and social media, not just roses and sunsets.

Terrance Hayes, in his book _American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin_, uses the sonnet frame to talk about race, politics, and identity. The imagery is modern and sharp. In one of these sonnets, he describes:

“a black rainbow, a rusted nail, a crow
flying like it just remembered something…”

That “crow / flying like it just remembered something” is a powerful example of imagery in sonnets today—visual, but also psychological. You can see the bird, but you also feel the jolt of memory.

Natasha Trethewey, former U.S. Poet Laureate, often uses sonnet‑like structures with vivid historical imagery. In poems about the American South, she writes of “grit and ash,” “faded photographs,” and “the line of demarcation where the river darkens.” These are real examples of imagery that help readers inhabit a specific time and place.

You’ll also see contemporary sonnets that mention phone screens glowing in the dark, subway brakes screeching, or the blue light of a laptop at 2 a.m. These details show how modern examples include digital and urban imagery, updating the tradition without abandoning it.

For a broader look at how sonnets have evolved, the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets both maintain current, searchable sonnet collections:

• https://www.poetryfoundation.org/
• https://poets.org/

These are reliable places to find fresh, real examples of imagery in sonnets published in the last few decades.

How imagery works inside the sonnet form

So what makes these the best examples of imagery in sonnets, and not just pretty lines floating in space? The answer has a lot to do with the sonnet’s shape.

Most traditional sonnets have a turn (the Italian term is volta) where the poem shifts in thought or emotion. Imagery often sharpens right before or after this turn.

In Sonnet 18, the shift happens when Shakespeare moves from fragile summer imagery—rough winds, short leases, dimmed suns—to the sturdier image of the written poem:

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

The sensory verbs “breathe” and “see” matter here. The poem’s immortality is tied to ongoing sensory experience. As long as people can feel and perceive, the imagery keeps working.

In Sonnet 73, the final image is a fire:

“In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie…”

The “glowing” and “ashes” are tactile and visual. The entire emotional argument of the sonnet—love becomes stronger in the face of loss—is carried by that image of a fire burning low.

When you study examples of imagery in sonnets, notice how often the strongest images appear near the beginning (to hook you), around the turn (to shift you), and at the end (to stay with you).

Using these examples of imagery in sonnets in your own writing

If you’re a writer, these real examples aren’t just for admiration; they’re models. Here are some patterns you can steal without guilt:

• Anchor big ideas in small, sensory details. Instead of “time passes,” think “yellow leaves… hang / Upon those boughs which shake against the cold.”
• Mix senses. Browning doesn’t just talk about love; she brings in breath, smiles, tears—touch, sight, sound.
• Update the objects, keep the method. Shakespeare had larks and coral; you might have traffic lights, headphones, and coffee steam.
• Let imagery carry the emotional twist. Use a fresh image at the sonnet’s turn to signal a change.

If you want to go deeper into how imagery affects reading and memory, even outside poetry, research from organizations like Harvard University on learning and cognition can be helpful starting points: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/scholarship.

FAQ: common questions about imagery in sonnets

What are some famous examples of imagery in sonnets I can teach in class?

Some of the best examples include:

• Shakespeare’s “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” from Sonnet 18 (nature and touch)
• “When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang / Upon those boughs which shake against the cold” from Sonnet 73 (seasonal and emotional imagery)
• Browning’s “depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach” from Sonnet 43 (spatial imagery for emotion)
• Keats’s “soft fall and swell” of a lover’s breath in “Bright Star” (tactile and auditory imagery)

These are reliable, classroom‑friendly examples of imagery in sonnets that clearly show how sensory detail works.

How can I tell if a line is a strong example of imagery in a sonnet?

Ask yourself: Can I experience this with my senses? If the line lets you see, hear, feel, smell, or taste something concrete, it’s imagery. The stronger the sensory impact and the more it connects to the poem’s emotion or argument, the better the example.

Do modern sonnets still use imagery the way older sonnets do?

Yes, but the subject matter has shifted. Modern examples include city streets, protest signs, text messages, neon light, and news footage. The method is the same—turning abstract feelings into sensory experiences—but the objects are updated to match contemporary life.

Where can I find more examples of imagery in sonnets online?

Good starting points are:

• Poetry Foundation sonnet collections: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/
• Academy of American Poets: https://poets.org/
• University literature resources, such as open course materials from major universities like Harvard or MIT.

These sites regularly publish and archive sonnets, giving you a wide range of real examples of imagery in sonnets from different centuries.