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What is an example of one striking image in the poem "Meeting at Night"?

An image is the representation of sensory information in words.  Thus, visual imagery would describe something we could see, olfactory imagery describes something we could smell, auditory imagery describes something we might hear, gustatory imagery describes something we could taste, and tactile imagery describes something we might touch.  One particularly striking image in this poem is the "blue spurt of a lighted match" referenced in line 10.  The reason this image is so striking is that it actually combines two kinds of sensory information: the visual and the auditory.  Imagery that combines two or more senses is called synesthesia.  We can imagine the sight of the "blue" color that leaps from the tip of the match when struck as well as the sound of the "spurt" the lit match makes.  In addition, "spurt" is a word that is usually associated with liquid: water spurts from a fountain, liquid spurts from someone's mouth when they laugh after taking a drink, and so forth.  To describe something nonliquid, then, as "spurt[ing]" is attention-grabbing and really shows us how quickly the match seems to light once struck, how the initial blue flame would look in such darkness.

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