Many descriptive essays are poignant, amusing, or dramatic. A descriptive essay consists of a vivid account of a person, place, event or situation. The mood will depend on the details you want to include. The best descriptive essays often contain a mix of elements, both humorous and dramatic, but you may want to emphasize one mood over another. So you must choose the details carefully, but do not be afraid to explore something that at first glance seems insignificant. Sometimes a small gesture, look, or event, has a symbolic weight, and will make the rehearsal more.
Instructions:
- Choose a topic that focuses on a person, place or event. All of them invite the description.
- It begins with a significant anecdote, rather than a statement of intent or a thesis. In a descriptive essay, you can leave the thesis implicit. An implicit thesis is not emphatically affirmative, but everything in the essay leads the reader to see the idea or to understand the feeling to which you point.
- Develop the essay body with steps that include action, dialogue and images. You do not have to include everything possible, but rather discuss the highlights. If you are describing a person, use anecdotes, events, some physical description and perhaps a favorite quote to bring the person to life. It mentions defects of character as well as admirable traits. If you want to describe a place, include people and objects in it, as well as colors and smells. To describe an event, it also includes physical details of its location, and mentions people, objects, sounds and smells. Be especially careful when describing the action of an event.
- Follow the adage of ancient writing: show, do not say. To do this, it uses a lot of sensory impressions and describes the action with strong verbs. “She became sad,” she tells the reader how a person felt. Compare this with “the face shattered like glass, and burst into tears in the sunlight,” which shows the reader something that looks like sadness.
- Close the essay with a final image and some thoughtful comments. Ideally, the final image will function symbolically. The comments need not explain the essay, although they could. In any case, your final observations and description should evoke the importance of the essay, leaving the reader with a lasting impression.
Tips
The details of an essay about a person, place or event are woven very well together. You do not need to limit your description, omitting details of any kind.