"The Signal-Man" and Other Stories

"The Signal-Man" and Other Stories Imagery

Wailing Wind and Wires (Auditory Imagery)

During a lull in conversation, the narrator comments on how "the wind and the wires took up the story with a long lamenting wail." This example of auditory imagery underscores the eerie quality of the story's setting, where otherworldly sounds play out on telegraph wires and through the valley.

Vague Vibration in the Earth and Air (Tactile)

In an example of tactile imagery, the narrator comments on how an oncoming train is registered as a vibration. "Just then there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had force to draw me down." The passing train induces an uneasy feeling in the narrator and contributes to the story's ominous mood; by referring to it through the physical sensation it produces, this description gives the train a spectral, deathly quality.