Descriptive Text Examples
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In descriptive writing, the author does not just tell the reader what was seen,
felt, tested, smelled, or heard. Rather, the author describes something from their
own experience and, through careful choice of words and phrasing, makes it
seem real. Descriptive writing is vivid, colorful, and detailed.
Good Descriptive Writing
Good descriptive writing creates an impression in the reader's mind of an event,
a place, a person, or a thing. The writing will be such that it will set a mood or
describe something in such detail that if the reader saw it, they would recognize
it.
To be good, descriptive writing has to be concrete, evocative and plausible.
To be concrete, descriptive writing has to offer specifics the reader can
envision. Rather than "Her eyes were the color of blue rocks" (Light blue?
Dark blue? Marble? Slate?), try instead, "Her eyes sparkled like sapphires in
the dark."
To be evocative, descriptive writing has to unite the concrete image with
phrasing that evokes the impression the writer wants the reader to have.
Consider "her eyes shone like sapphires, warming my night" versus "the
woman's eyes had a light like sapphires, bright and hard." Each phrase uses
the same concrete image, then employs evocative language to create
different impressions.
To be plausible, the descriptive writer has to constrain the concrete,
evocative image to suit the reader's knowledge and attention span. "Her eyes
were brighter than the sapphires in the armrests of the Tipu Sultan's golden
throne, yet sharper than the tulwars of his cruelest executioners" will have
the reader checking their phone halfway through. "Her eyes were sapphires,
bright and hard" creates the same effect in a fraction of the reading time. As
always in the craft of writing: when in doubt, write less.
Examples of Descriptive Writing
The following sentences provide examples of the concreteness, evocativeness
and plausibility of good descriptive writing.
Her last smile to me wasn't a sunset. It was an eclipse, the last eclipse, noon
dying away to darkness where there would be no dawn.
My Uber driver looked like a deflating airbag and sounded like talk radio on
repeat.
The old man was bent into a capital C, his head leaning so far forward that
his beard nearly touched his knobby knees.
The painting was a field of flowers, blues and yellows atop deep green
stems that seemed to call the viewer in to play.
My dog's fur felt like silk against my skin and her black coloring shone,
absorbing the sunlight and reflecting it back like a pure, dark mirror.
The sunset filled the sky with a deep red flame, setting the clouds ablaze.
The waves rolled along the shore in a graceful, gentle rhythm, as if dancing
with the land.
Winter hit like a welterweight that year, a jabbing cold you thought you
could stand until the wind rose up and dropped you to the canvas.
Examples of Descriptive Text in Literature
Because descriptive text is so powerful, many examples of it can be found in
famous literature and poetry.
The High Window
The mystery novelist Raymond Chandler was one of American literature's
masters of descriptive language. This sentence fromThe High Window strikes
the perfect notes to embody its subject:
"She had pewter-colored hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak, and large
moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones."
Life in the Iron Mills
Notice the vivid description of smoke in this excerpt from Rebecca Harding
Davis's Life in the Iron Mills:
"The idiosyncrasy of this town is smoke. It rolls sullenly in slow folds from the
great chimneys of the iron-foundries, and settles down in black, slimy pools on
the muddy streets. Smoke on the wharves, smoke on the dingy boats, on the
yellow river--clinging in a coating of greasy soot to the house-front, the two
faded poplars, the faces of the passers-by."
Jamaica Inn
In this excerpt from Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, notice the writer's
choice of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Granite. Mizzling. Du Maurier's choice
of words allows the reader to almost feel the weather occurring on the page.
"It was a cold grey day in late November. The weather had changed overnight,
when a backing wind brought a granite sky and a mizzling rain with it, and
although it was now only a little after two o'clock in the afternoon the pallor of a
winter evening seemed to have closed upon the hills, cloaking them in mist."
He is punctual, well-educated, and has good manners. He is really hard working. He always does
his homework. He is also well-dressed and well-behaved. All teachers have a high opinion of
him.
Ernesto has a well-built body. He is gentle but fearless. He takes part in all sports, scout, trekking
and mountaineering activities. He has a good heart. He is truthful, honest and obedient.
He also plays the guitar, and he makes his parents very proud of him. He secures good marks
and is usually top of his class in examinations. He inspires me to work harder. He keeps me
away from bad company. I am happy to have such a friend.