Imagery
Imagery uses vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. It usually involves one or more of your five senses (hearing, taste, touch, smell, sight). An author uses a word or phrase to stimulate your memory of those senses. These memories can be positive or negative which will contribute to the mood of your poem.
Imagery shows something, instead of telling about it:
If you're tired and hopeless, how can you show someone this instead of just telling them?
I took a walk around the world to
Ease my troubled mind
I left my body laying somewhere
In the sands of time
I watched the world float to the dark
Side of the moon
I feel there is nothing I can do
--"Kryptonite" by Three Doors Down
If you're a rapper, instead of telling someone to let your freestyles come naturally, how can you show them with your words?
From the family tree of old school hip hop
Kick off your shoes and relax your socks
The rhymes will spread just like a pox
Cause the music is live like an electric shock
--Beastie Boys "Intergalactic" From Hello Nasty
Some poets use figurative language to create imagery, while others use direct language to create those vivid images. William Carlos Williams was a master at this.
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
the red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.