Sappho’s lyric poetry works are one of the most interesting from the selected readings. Vivid descriptions are one of the most prominent elements of artistic works that one comes across through Sappho’s work. Sappho combination vivid description with sensual imagery to convey powerful emotions and feelings. While describing her lover, for instance, Sappho’s rich use of imagery and vivid description is quite evident. The sound that comes from her undisclosed lover, for example, is described as “sweet-speaking”, and “lovely laughter” that appeals to ears for anyone that hears it. Through vivid description, Sappho can appeal to all the five senses. In Poem 94, for example, Sappho that they to decorate one another with flowers and sweet oil. The mention of sweet scents from flowers gets one to form a clear the extent of love the two used to love each other.

“Fishhawk” from the ancient Chinese classic poetry is another artistic work which has rich use of artistic elements. One of the defining features one easily notices from reading the work include the use of imagery. Vivid and sensual words have been used richly by the author in “Fishhawk” to capture the imagination of human experience. A good example of a vivid description that entails the use of imagery is a description of fishhawk as singing “gwan gwan” creates a visual picture on the mind of the audience. In line 5, the author beautifully uses imagery to contrast landscape when it is indicated that “Watercress grows here and there.” When it comes to persons, they are described as being “gentle maiden, pure and fair.” Here it can be seen that there is an element of exaggeration as the visual picture created by the author about the humans seems too good to be true.

The use of imagery and vivid description in the two stories not only help to make the works pleasurable to read, but it also makes them memorable. Vivid description, in particular, helps to create a mental picture and an air of expectation of what to expect as one reads between the lines. As seen from Sappho’s lyric poetry, use of imagery helps appeal to create sensual appeal for the audience. As evidenced by the two works, imagery and vivid description as used in combination with one another to develop emotional and physical appeal for the audience that read the works. Anyone who reads the words “sweet-speaking” and lovely laughter” as used by Sappho, for instance, is likely to develop a strong interest in reading further. For my case, I couldn’t help imagining how the lover described by these words looked. Apart from creating a vivid description of the scenery, the words “gwan gwan” in Fishhawk also help the reader to explore on their own the world of the persona and the author. Last but not least, the description of the landscape as Watercress grows here and there perfectly complements the theme of love in the articulated by the author.