How does the author use imagery in the epic, The Song of Igor’s Campaign?

The author makes full use of color imagery. Red and gold are the most prominent colors. Igor's men carry vermilion shields (vermilion is a brilliant red color), and the Kuman standards, or flags, are also vermilion. The battle scene features "bloody effulgences" at dawn (a red sky) and "crimson pillars" (a metaphor for Igor and his brother as they go down to defeat, perhaps suggesting the setting sun).

Gold is used always with references to the nobility. Igor has golden stirrups and a golden saddle; his brother Vsevelod has a golden helmet. Princes have "golden thrones"; Svyatoslav's tower is "gold-crested" and his words are golden. In Russian art of the period, gold symbolized glory and magnificence.

The Kumans are associated with black ravens and black clouds. The color blue is used to describe not only the river Don but also the wine of sorrow that Svyatoslav drinks and the mist that surrounds the sorcerer Vseslav.