Description

Essentially, descriptive writing boils down to word choice and language manipulation that is designed to appeal to our five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The writer recreates a sensory experience for the reader. Descriptive writing can include figurative language: language using figures of speech; in other words, language that cannot be taken literally (or should not be taken literally only). Simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification, apostrophe... are all forms of figurative language.

Today you will read "A Marker on the Side of the Boat".

1. (b) What do you think is the predominant mood of this story? Select one passage that you think truly captures this mood and give reasons for your choice.

1. (d) Find at least one example of irony in the story.

3. Descriptive Language. Identify three passages in the story that, in your view, contain the most striking examples of effective descriptive language. What techniques were used? What was the impact on the reader?

Please write a blog post in response to these questions.

We will take a look at how to write a descriptive paragraph.

Descriptive Paragraph

​ The topic sentence begins by introducing the person, place or thing that is the subject of the description.

The body of the paragraph consists of sensory details – details about the subject that appeal to the five senses. Its purpose is to create an impression of the subject in the reader’s mind.

Details are arranged in spatial order.

The conclusion usually reinforces in some way the impression the words have created.

We will look at some examples, brainstorm possible topics, and then you will begin to work on your own paragraphs.

Example

The White Sphinx

My sensations would be hard to describe. As the columns of hail grew thinner, I saw the white figure more distinctly. It was very large, for a silver birch tree touched its shoulder. It was a white marble, in shape something like a winged sphinx, but the wings, instead of being carried vertically at the sides, were spread so that it seemed to hover. The pedestal, it appeared to me, was of bronze and was thick with verdigris. It chanced that the face was towards me; the sightless eyes seemed to watch me; there was the faint shadow of a smile on the lips. It was greatly weather-worn, and that imparted an unpleasant suggestion of disease. I stood looking at it for a little space – half a minute, perhaps, or half an hour. It seemed to advance and to recede as the hail drove before it denser or thinner.