A description is the action and effect of describing, that is, of explain or represent in detail through language the characteristic features of an object, person, place, situation or event.
The purpose of the description is to create in the listener or reader a mental image of the matter referred to in its absence. Grammatically, the word description is a feminine noun.
Descriptions may vary in type depending on the function they have in the context of communication: scientific, literary, advertising, analytical fields, among others. There are different types of description, among which we will mention only the most common ones.
Description Types
Objective description
It is that description in which the sender of the message tries to convey the image of what he describes in a precise way, without making value judgments and without letting feelings intervene.
In principle, it is assumed that an objective description will not omit any detail and will attempt to construct a faithful portrait of what is represented, without prioritizing the elements.
It is commonly used in different scientific disciplines to explain the most diverse phenomena and concepts.
Subjective description
Subjective description is called those verbal representations of people, things or situations in which the sender of the message prioritizes the importance of the traits, with the purpose of expressing how he or she feels about them or to achieve an emotional effect on the recipient of the message. .
In subjective description, the sender deliberately assumes a point of view, which allows him to omit or exacerbate those features that favor the effect sought in his audience. In this case, the subjective description may include value judgments. This type of description is very common in literary genres such as poetry.
Description in literature
Literary description is a widely used resource in literature, especially in narrative genres such as novels and short stories.
The term also refers to the detailed explanation of the elements that characterize a character, a location, an object or an event, but this explanation has an aesthetic purpose.
Therefore, it is very typical of literary description to include resources such as metaphors, symbols and different rhetorical figures that allow one to imagine or visualize a certain element to capture it vividly. Example:
Our gentleman’s age was close to fifty years old; He was of strong build, dry of meat, lean of face, a great early riser and a friend of hunting.
Miguel de Cervantes, The ingenious gentleman don Don Quixote of La Mancha.
See also Literary Figures.
Furthermore, all literary description favors the perception of verisimilitude in the context of reading. This means that it allows those things discussed by the narrator to appear “believable” in the eyes of the reader. Indeed, a literary description may be more intelligible, clear, plausible or understandable to a reader than an objective description.
But literary descriptions also aim, in themselves, to achieve effects of aesthetic pleasure in the reader. Example:
The shield itself was composed of five sheets and in it
He was creating many beautiful things with skillful skill.
He made the earth, the sky and the sea appear in it,
The tireless sun and the full moon,
as well as all the stars that crown the firmament…
Homer, The Iliad, “Song XVIII”.
Geometric description
Is called geometric description to techniques that allow three-dimensional space to be represented on a two-dimensional surface. This allows the recipient of the message to create a mental image of three-dimensional objects in space.