'No doubt I now grew very pale; - but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased - and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound - much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath - and yet the officers heard it not.' - What imagery does Edgar Allen Poe use in this extract from his short story, 'The Tell-Tale Heart'?

Imagery refers to the collection of images contained in a text. Imagery is not purely visual; instead it includes all sensory representations. If a writer makes you smell freshly-baked bread, see the new blade of grass, feel the agony of thirst or the warmth of a radiator on a cold day, then you have been affected by imagery. When you think about it, it seems miraculous that this can be achieved by the tiny squiggles that we call letters.