Question

Hormuz is a great and splendid city on the sea, governed by a malik and with several cities and towns in subjection to it. The people are Saracens who worship Mahomet. The climate is excessively hot—so hot that the houses are fitted with ventilators to catch the wind. The ventilators are set to face the quarter from which the wind blows and let it blow into the house. This they do because they cannot endure the over-powering heat.

–“The Middle East,”
Marco Polo

Which senses does the imagery in this passage appeal to?


How does this imagery support the author’s purpose?

Answer 1

Senses appealed to
- Sight: “great and splendid city on the sea,” “houses are fitted with ventilators” — visual images of the city and its architecture.
- Touch/temperature: “The climate is excessively hot…they cannot endure the over-powering heat” — directly evokes physical sensation of heat.
- Kinesthetic/feeling of motion (and slight auditory suggestion): “ventilators to catch the wind…let it blow into the house” — the movement of air, the feeling (and implied sound) of wind.

How the imagery supports the author’s purpose
- It makes the account vivid and memorable: sensory detail helps readers picture Hormuz and feel its climate, increasing engagement and credibility.
- It conveys the city’s character and contrasts: “great and splendid” paired with “over-powering heat” emphasizes both grandeur and harshness, enriching the portrait.
- It highlights local adaptation and cultural detail: describing ventilators shows how inhabitants respond to their environment, adding ethnographic interest and reinforcing the sense of exotic otherness for Polo’s audience.