to appeal to the senses

Question

I am trying to precisely grasp the meaning of the phrase "appeal to the senses", and would like to test my understanding by paraphrasing two sentences inspired by ones I have read on the Web.

Merriam Webster's says about appeal in sense 2b:

an attempt to make someone do or accept something as right or proper by saying things that are directed at a person's feelings, attitudes, etc. - + to

▪ The author makes an appeal to the reader's emotions. ▪ an appeal to reason ▪ an appeal to the intellect

Would you consider these two sentences:

• These techniques use language directed at the senses.
• The writer using sensory language is trying to stimulate the reader's sensual memory to catch their interest

semantically synonymous or very similar to these:

• These techniques appeal to the senses.
• The writer is trying to appeal to the reader's senses.

Answer 1

"Senses" here means taste, hearing, sight, and/or touch. "Appeal" here basically means "give pleasure to", though it crosses over into "requests". So "this appeals to the senses" means it gives pleasure to a person's taste, hearing, etc. If, for example, a movie had great music and beautiful scenery, you might say, "This movie appealed to the senses." It might or might not have an interesting story -- that would be beside the point. When I said the meaning of "appeal" borders on "request", I meant that the meaning of "this appeals to the senses" also carries a connotation of "it asks the audience to appreciate it on a sensual level".

"Appeals to the senses" is something of the oppose of "appeals to the intellect" or "appeals to reason". A work of art might appeal to both the senses and to intellect, but they're different things. Beautiful music and scenary appeal to the senses; a logical argument or a finely crafted story appeal to the intellect.

Answer 2

"Appeal to the senses" is a collocation that means the writer's choices seek to have the reader recall or imagine sensation.

When the wasp stung my wrist, there was a searing pain along my entire forearm, which felt as though it had been splashed with hot cooking oil.

The 'appeal' can be to pleasurable or to painful experience, so it is not necessarily something we would consider an appealing sensation.

One can write in a way that does not try to invoke sense memory, even though it refers to what is normally a process involving one or more of the senses.

They masticated and ingested the protein set before them.