Kinds of Description
Description is primarily of
two kinds, that which is to give accurate information, and
that which is to produce a definite impression not necessarily
involving exactness of imagery. The first of these
forms is useful simply in the way of explanation, serving
the first purpose indicated in paragraph four. The second is useful for other purposes than that of exposition,
often appealing incidentally to our sense of the
beautiful, and requiring always nice literary skill in its
management. It should be borne in mind always that
literary description must not usurp the office of representations
of the material in the plastic arts. It should not be
employed as an end in itself, but only as subsidiary to
other ends.
Excrept from The Writing of the Short Story by Lewis Worthington Smith.
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