Rhetorical Forms - Basics

Ted Leach

Kingston High School

Description

What’s the purpose of the writing?Convey information without biasConvey information with feeling

Objective vs. subjective description

Objective description

Technical details“Look for the green shutters on the

windows.”

Subjective description

Sometimes called emotional or impressionistic writing

“Imagine the ship herself, with every pulse and artery of her huge body swollen and bursting…sworn to go on or die” (Dickens, American Notes)

What literary techniques does Dickens use?

Checklist for description

Subjective or objective; what’s my purpose?Dominant impression: what is my point?Point of view and organization: do they

work together? Are they clear?Details: what is needed to convey my

dominant impression?Concrete language: have I used sensory

details?

Writing notebook

Title: Description in “Through the Tunnel” (9/14)

Task: Create a double-entry journal on the use of description in “Through the Tunnel”

How to do a double-entry

Left side of page: quote, drawing, key point

Right side of page: your thoughts on what that quote, drawing, or point is important.

Sample double-entry

“…the young English boy stopped at a turning of a path and looked down at a wild and rocky bay, and then over to the crowded beach he knew so well from other years” (76).

In the first sentence of the story, Lessing sets up the contrast between the two beaches. The beach attracts Jerry’s attention because it’s wild and rocky -- quite different from the beach the narrator will shortly describe as “safe.” I think it’s interesting that this contrast -- which is so important in the story -- happens in its first sentence.

Credits

Some slide content adapted from The Bedford Reader