Descriptive Composition
Descriptive Composition :
One of the most difficult compositions to write is the descriptive composition. But it is also the most rewarding one, for a well-written descriptive composition is a joy to read. Besides once you have mastered this art, you can use it in other pieces of writing too. Some of the greatest writers like Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Amitav Ghosh and Anita Desai - all use descriptive writing very effectively.
Here is an extract from THE CHRISTMAS TREE written by Charles Dickens.
I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy - a Christmas Tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves and there were real watches (with movable hands at least and an endless capacity of being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs. There were French-polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, eight-day clocks and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolver Hampton), perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping. There were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men - and no wonder for their heads took off and showed them to be hill of sugar-plums. There were fiddles and drums. There were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes peep-show boxes and all kinds of boxes. There were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels. There were baskets and pincushions in all devices. There were guns, swords and banners. There were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes. There were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers smelling-bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders. Real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf. Imitation apples, pears, and walnuts crammed with surprises. In short, as a pretty child, before me, delightedly whispered to another pretty child, her bosom friend here was everything, and more.’ This motley collection of odd objects, clustering on the tree like magic fruit and flashing back the bright looks directed towards it from every side - some of the diamond-eyes admiring it were hardly on a level with the table and a few were languishing in timid wonder on the bosoms of pretty' mothers, aunts’ and nurses - made a lively realisation of the fancies of childhood and set me thinking how all the trees that grow and all the things that come into existence on the earth, have their wild adornments at that well-remembered time.
Write a descriptive composition on the following topics.
1 Imagine that you were on a Mediterranean cruise, when the ship was caught in a storm. The captain and his crew took all the necessary precautions, including the lifeboats which were kept on standby for an emergency. Write a descriptive composition about the incident in your own words.
2 A prisoner of war returns home after ten years. In those ten years everything has changed. His wife is no longer the young woman he left behind. His children have grown up and barely remember him. But most of all, he himself has changed. He has seen the darker side of war and the kindness of ordinary people. His attitude to life has changed. He has learnt to value every moment and knows how precious the gift of life is. How does he explain his changed thoughts to his family? What experiences does he narrate to substantiate his story? Write a descriptive composition about the incident in your own words.
3 A little lion cub, named RAJU, has wandered away from the pride, deep in the jungles of Africa. It is spotted by the poachers who chase it. But the little cub manages to give them the slip and returns to its pride after a few hours. It narrates its harrowing experience to the family. Write a descriptive composition narrating the incident. You may also put dialogue in your composition.
4 You recently had to spend some hours waiting in the lobby of a hospital. Describe your experience. Your account should contain what you saw, heard, felt and thought as you sat in the lobby. It should end with the effect that the experience has had on you.
Descriptive Composition
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