Descriptive Essays

Descriptive Writing...

O.  Attendance

.5 Calendar  

.7   Calendar



1.  Journal:  

The poem below has a secret.  It's really about writing.  What can you learn about descriptive writing from this poem?  Why?  It's called "The Red Wheelbarrow" and is by Williams.

so much depends
upon a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.


3.  Poem, for description purposes... thinking skill questions

Funeral Blues

TS questions:

1.  Explain which image is most powerful to you.  Why is it?
2.  Some infer that the speaker's love is timeless.  Why?
3.  Identify how the speaker is feeling.
4. Connect this poem to your own life.
5.  Analyze what the images do for the poem.  How do they work?
6.  Synthesize this poem into your own consciousness by taking away an image from the poem and replacing it with one of your own.



4.  Some notes about descriptive writing...

Concrete v. Abstract.
Show don't tell.
It's a narrative, so the premise is the same.





4.5-  My descriptive plan as model.


5.   Read the following descriptive essay and answer the questions below.





Questions:

1.  Famous writing advice includes the maxim:  "Show, Don't tell."  Provide an example of where Mr. Orwell follows this advice and explain why you believe he follows this advice.

2.  Descriptive essays employ figurative language like similes and metaphors.  Find a simile and a metaphor in "A Hanging" and explain how they each help readers better understand the situation or the image that Orwell is attempting to describe.

3.  Most good essays have a message.  What is Orwell's message, and why do you think it is the message?




6.  Homework... Come to class with a plan/outline for your descriptive essay....