Descriptive Writing in Literature
Descriptive Writing in Literature!
November, 01, 2010
Descriptive Writing in Literature!
Literature indulges us in a different world by using descriptive writing that paints a vivid picture in our mind. Every author has a different way to accomplish that, but the main purpose is to draw the reader into the desired place and time of the literature. I will compare two poems and one story that capture the imagination by a descriptive writing. First we will take a closer look how these authors accomplished their transition of us into their world and then we will compare if those works have something in common. Grabbing the attention of a reader is not an easy thing especially that each person has a different view of the world, and one thing that can be understandable to some can be an enigma to others. In the poem “The Fish” written by Elizabeth Bishop we can see a simple act of catching a fish that is translated into a powerful descriptive poem that shows how this catch not only defined time, but is also a renewal of life after the release. When we hear a person describing a fish it is usually pretty simple: small, big, long, had large teeth, heavy etc... In the poem Elizabeth Bishop uses great synonyms and metaphors (change the words) that grab our attention from the first verse:” I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of the water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth.” We can clearly imagine the fish that has just been caught still breathing being held next to the boat. Next she uses synonyms that start to describe the appearance of it: “He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely.” But the great description does not end on those couple lines she goes into details about its skin and how it looks like an old wallpaper, discolored, faded, torn apart: “his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wall-paper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wall-paper: shapes like full-brown roses stained and lost through
November, 01, 2010
Descriptive Writing in Literature!
Literature indulges us in a different world by using descriptive writing that paints a vivid picture in our mind. Every author has a different way to accomplish that, but the main purpose is to draw the reader into the desired place and time of the literature. I will compare two poems and one story that capture the imagination by a descriptive writing. First we will take a closer look how these authors accomplished their transition of us into their world and then we will compare if those works have something in common. Grabbing the attention of a reader is not an easy thing especially that each person has a different view of the world, and one thing that can be understandable to some can be an enigma to others. In the poem “The Fish” written by Elizabeth Bishop we can see a simple act of catching a fish that is translated into a powerful descriptive poem that shows how this catch not only defined time, but is also a renewal of life after the release. When we hear a person describing a fish it is usually pretty simple: small, big, long, had large teeth, heavy etc... In the poem Elizabeth Bishop uses great synonyms and metaphors (change the words) that grab our attention from the first verse:” I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of the water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth.” We can clearly imagine the fish that has just been caught still breathing being held next to the boat. Next she uses synonyms that start to describe the appearance of it: “He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely.” But the great description does not end on those couple lines she goes into details about its skin and how it looks like an old wallpaper, discolored, faded, torn apart: “his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wall-paper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wall-paper: shapes like full-brown roses stained and lost through