CHAPTER II DESCRIPTION

The primary purpose of Description is to show how objects and scenes look to us. This purpose can be accomplished best by means of pictures, and wherever it is the sole purpose, a description is simply a convenient but inadequate substitute for a picture. But if we wish to tell not only how a thing looks, but what it really is and how it acts, description becomes indispensable. There are certain things which by a picture can only be suggested,—the material, for example, of which a table is made, the force of the wind upon a seabeach, the scent of pine woods, the pealing of bells, the manner in which the actors of a scene came to be in their respective positions. Wherever suggestion of this kind is required, words are more effective. The sense of sight, to which a picture appeals, is the most important, but words, through suggestion, reach all the senses. Description therefore is an independent and necessary art.

I. DESCRIPTION FOR ACCURACY

II. DESCRIPTION FOR VIVIDNESS