Descriptive Essay - Academic Mode

Definition of descriptive essay
A descriptive essay is, as the name suggests, a form of essay that describes something. In this genre, students are given the task of describing objects, things, places, experiences, people and situations. Students use sensory information so that readers can use their five sensations of touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight to understand the subject of the essay necessary to accurately describe things. Images are used to make things seem real and remarkable. The use of the five senses creates the images or a mental picture for each reader.

Difference between a description and a descriptive essay
A Description could be just one paragraph or it could take longer to fully describe the matter as needed. However, a descriptive essay contains five paragraphs. It is written in a coherent way with a good thesis at the end of the introduction, three main paragraphs and a conclusion.

Examples of descriptive essays in literature
Example 1: The corner shop (by Eudora Welty)
“Our little shop rose straight from the sidewalk; It stood in a street with family houses and had no yard, no tree or no flower bed in front of it. It was a simple building covered with bricks. In front of the door was a small upstairs porch and four shaded windows peered out. But I did not understand this. I ran in from the sun. They encountered something that seemed completely dark inside. There were almost noticeable smells - liquorice recently soaked a child's cheek, dill pickle brine1 that had leaked through a paper sack in a fresh trail across the wooden floor, ammonia-laden ice that had been pulled up from wet croker sacks and its sweet butter on the The door slammed into the fridge, and maybe the smell of untrapped mice. “

This description of the“ little shop ”is not only clear and concise, but also contains images and sensory information about the shop building.

Example 2: And the orchestra continued to play (by Joanne Lipman)
“ The hinges creaked when I saw the run-down suitcase opened. I was greeted by a cascade of loose horsehair - my bow was a victim of mites, the mechanic later explains. It was pure agony to get my fingers into position. But to my amazement and that of my teenage children - who had never heard me play - I was still able to make a noise.

“It turned out, a few days later, that there were 100 people like me. When I showed up at a local school for the essay, there they were: five decades of alumni. There were doctors and accountants, engineers and university professors. There were people who hadn't played in decades, sitting next to professionals like Mr. Melanie's daughter, now a violinist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There were generations of music teachers. "

, the author clearly describes the decrepit nature of the violin case, as well as the damage that time has done to the bow. The second paragraph is a description of the characters and their similarities. Both use sensory input for effective descriptions

Example # 3: Yarn (by Koyoko Mori)
“The yellow mittens I made in 7th grade home economics showed that I dreamed of colors. For the knitting unit, we were supposed to deliver a pair of mittens. The two hands had to be exactly the same size so that when held together, palm to palm, no additional stitches would protrude from the thumb. the tips of the fingers, or the fist. Sometime between making the fourth and fifth mittens to meet this requirement, I dreamed that the ball of yellow yarn in my bag had turned green. Cartridge, Leaf, Granny Smith, Lime, Neon, Acid Green. The glow was electric. I woke up knowing that, once again, I was doomed to a D in home ec. "

See the use of colors in this paragraph by Koyoko Mori. This is called" pure description ", in that the description appeals to the senses. The use of the word "shine" in the last line is surprising, to remind us that the world is real, that the sound is truer than the echo, the original more forceful than its image in a mirror. The beauty of beautiful things can still overcome imitation in these picture-saturated times. And the Taj Mahal is, beyond the power of words, a beautiful thing, perhaps the most beautiful of all things. “

Check out this brief description of the Taj Mahal by Salman Rushdie. This description shows another image of the Taj Mahal.

Descriptive Essay Function
A descriptive essay presents a person, place, or thing in such a way that readers feel that it is in front of their eyes, that they are tasting it, that they can hear it, or that they can smell it. Writers use sensory information to describe the object. The goal of the writer is to present an image of something as honestly as possible.