Descriptive Discourse: Techniques, Objective & Subjective Vividness

Descriptive Discourse

Setting, or general environment, is very important because we must know where the place and action take place. Descriptive discourse expresses human awareness of the setting and aims to create a mental image in the mind of the reader by means of a verbal representation. We form an overall image through the description in the text.

Descriptive discourse uses words to represent appearance, nature, attributes, etc., of something. Descriptive discourse is very similar to pictorial arts; both have the same purpose: to represent an idea and to show the main purpose of the image.

We must take into consideration all descriptive techniques to describe time, place, people, etc., but we should not forget that adjectives are not always the key.

Descriptive discourse can appear on its own in a literary passage, and most of the time, due to its ornamental character, it functions as an auxiliary device of narrative discourse, which is generally the dominant element of the passage. We can find passages with a balance between description and narration. Descriptive discourse is quite visible and contributes to understanding a narration. Descriptions are never offered alone.

Objective and Subjective Description

Vividness in description.

Description can be objective and subjective.

Objective Description

Objective description is also called technical description. It is the tool of the architect, the scientist, the lawyer, the scholar, etc., when they write reports, essays, or chronicles. It provides us with information, and its goal is accuracy: to represent faithfully the described things.

Subjective Description

Subjective description corresponds mainly to the artist. It is more personal and its goal is vividness. This type of description provides sensations and emotions to the reader and the writer. Subjective description has the power of observation and of impressions; most of these impressions are, normally, attractive and fascinating. That is what we call vividness: when a description is full of life, strength, and freshness. The author represents their emotions through vividness, including colour, brightness, liveliness, charm, and the pleasure produced by the characters and the place where they are situated. These descriptions may be positive or negative.

Vividness

Vividness may be produced by a fascinating appeal to the senses and by careful stylistic choice. Common elements that create vivid description include:

• Sensory appeal — strong references to visual, auditory (hearing), taste, and touch sensations.
• Conscious word choice — precise, evocative vocabulary selected for effect.
• Stylistic devices — figures of speech such as metaphors, comparisons (similes), and personifications.
• Synaesthesia — the blending of sensory experiences to intensify vividness.

Synaesthesia — to reach vividness.