Progymnasmata: Description
Progymnasmata: Description
Classical Writing Exercises in Preparation for Rhetoric
This post is part of a Series on the Progymnasmata; a classical collection of writing exercises which reach back to Greek and Roman antiquity. These exercises are designed, tested, and proven to form well rounded and versatile writers and thinkers who are fully ready to engage in the craft of Rhetoric (the art of persuasion). For a brief introduction to the Progymnasmata with links to examples of the various exercises you may click here.
In this exercise the goal is to represent something (a place or thing) in vivid detail through the written word. The word “represent” literally means to “present again” and this is the goal of description, to implant a clear vision in the mind of your reader something which you have yourself seen but which they have not. Set aside, for the moment, the notion of taking a picture of some place or thing. Such technology does not exist and is not an option as far as this exercise is concerned. It is your job to project the thing you have seen into the mind of your reader, as accurately and as powerfully as possible, just by the words you choose to write.
Good descriptions typically include both objective and subjective descriptors, but the objective should always take the lead. Descriptions should be objective in that they communicate the external facts concerning the place or thing being described. Descriptions can be subjective as the writer is communicating the impression the thing (or place)being described had upon them personally. Finally the description can also be figurative, making use of simile and metaphor, to better communicate the sense of what the author saw.
Mina Harker’s description of Professor Van Helsing in her journal in Bram Stoker’s book, Dracula, is a fantastic example of mostly objective description with just a tinge or subjective. The bold print indicates the subjectivity in Mina’s description.
I rose and bowed, and he came towards me, a man of medium weight, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart, and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods.
Another good example of description comes to us in the description of the isle of Great Britain as found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s, History of the Kings of Britain. This description is resolutely and consistently objective.
Britain, the best of islands, is situated in the Western Ocean, between France and Ireland. It stretches for eight hundred miles in length and for two hundred in breadth. It provides in unfailing plenty everything that is suited to the use of human beings. It abounds in every kind of mineral. It has broad fields and hillsides which are suitable for the most intensive farming and in which, because of the richness of the soil, all kinds of crops are grown in their seasons. It also has open woodlands which are filled with every kind of game. Through its forest glades stretch pasture-lands which provide the various feeding-stuffs needed by cattle, and there too grow flowers of every hue which offer their honey to the flitting bees. At the foot of its windswept mountains it has meadows green with grass, beauty-spots where clear springs flow into shining streams which ripple gently and murmur an assurance of deep sleep to those lying on their banks.
What is more, it is watered by lakes and rivers full of fish, and at its southern end by a narrow strait across which men sail to France. There are three noble rivers, the Thames, the Severn and the Humber, and these it stretches out as though they were three arms. Into them goods from across the ocean are carried, merchandise coming from all countries by this same sea-traffic.
In earlier times Britain was graced by twenty-eight cities. Some of these, in the depopulated areas, are now mouldering away, with their walls broken. Others remain whole and have in them the shrines of saints, with towers built up to a noble height, where whole companies of men and women offer praise to God according to the Christian tradition.
Lastly, Britain is inhabited by five races of people, the Norman-French, the Britons, the Saxons, the Picts and the Scots. Of these the Britons once occupied the land from sea to sea, before the others came. Then the vengeance of God overtook them because of their arrogance and they submitted to the Picts and the Saxons. It now remains for me to tell how they came and from where, and this will be made clear in what follows.
The biblical book of Revelation is full of description and much of it relies on figurative description because the apostle John lacks the ability to give a sense of what he was seeing apart from the use of simile and metaphor. Just one instance of this can be seen in Revelation 9:7-11.
In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
Here John is not avoiding being objective about what he is seeing, he is simply reporting what he is seeing as best as he knows how.
Procedure
Select a thing to describe.
A Person: Keep in mind that that goal is to offer a detailed physical description that can recreate an image of the person in the mind of your reader. As such, avoid the temptation to spend time describing the person’s character or personality. The only exception to this would be when the person giving the description speaks of the way the appearance of the person made them feel (e.g. “He had a kind of permanent crease in his forehead which gave me the uncomfortable impression that he was a harsh kind of man.”)
One could also limit his or her description to one part of a person, such as his or her eyes, hands, or face, as opposed to the whole person.
A Place: When describing a place it is generally easier to accurately describe something smaller as opposed to something larger. It will be easier to describe your bedroom well than your whole house. It is easier to describe a small coffee house than the state capital building. It is easier to describe the state of Arizona than it is the whole of the United States.
An Object: Literally any object could be described, but it would be best to pick something that others are less familiar with so they’re understanding of the appearance and nature of the things depends upon your description. Try to pick something of some size and with lots of textures to describe.
Take copious notes and pay attention to small details.
When pondering what all one could say about any given thing, Aristotle’s Ten Categories are very useful. See the final section for more on this.
Organize the information about the thing you are planning to describe so that you can write about it in a flowing and orderly way.
If describing a person as a whole, perhaps you choose to describe them from the head down or from the feet up, but probably don’t bounce around randomly between elbows, eyes, then fingers and back to the nose.
Likewise, if describing your home or a business, take the reader from the outside and its external impression through the front door, down the entry hallway, to the rooms on the left and then right, etc. Make it a walking tour that seems natural, or describe it from one vantage point alone while scanning from left to right.
When describing an object consider speaking first of its color, transparency or opacity, its shininess or dullness, then move on to its size followed by its texture and surfaces, etc.
Write your description.
Additional Thoughts
The practice of writing a description has other uses beyond simply relating something one sees. The art of description can also be applied to things which do not exist in reality. The novelist or poet may make great use of these skills when describing a character or place or object which is completely of their own imagination. That being said, the person who has learned to first describe reality very well will be better at describing fictions than those who have never exercised this skill. Though it is often the complaint of the modern reader that older books contain “too much description” it is a more poignant observation to remark on the bland flatness of most of modern literature. Authors should be world makers and those worlds should be vividly communicated to their readers in ways that make the people, places, and things therein almost real to the reader. This exercise will not only make you a better describer of reality, it will help you become a better world builder in the life of your mind.
Someone might ask, can’t one describe other things besides People, places, and things? First, by things it is meant almost any physically existing object which includes animals and plants. Even people and places are “things” but we accord them some respect in giving them their own category. When it comes to things like ideas, things which are non-physical, their description is of a totally other kind. Our goal in this exercise is physical description, so the describing of ideas will be left to other exercises in the Progymnasmata like that of Thesis and Law. One can also describe events, but these are covered by another exercise which is called Narrative. Events are unique to describe because they involve movement through time whereas Description should be thought of as a picture or “still shot” of something.
Aristotle’s Ten Categories of Being
When describing a person, place, or an object (such as a room in a house, or a particular table, fountain, tree, or person) one can make great use of Aristotle’s Ten Categories when considering what to say about it. The 10 Categories outline the different ways we may speak about a given thing. The categories are: Substance, Quantity, Quality, Relation, Action, Passion, Time, Place, Posture, and Possession.
What is the substance of the thing? In other words, what is essential to the very nature of the thing being described? Any attribute which could be separated from the thing (like its color or size) without destroying the concept of the thing itself is not part of its substance (or essence). When describing a dog, the color of the dog is not part of its substance because there are many different colors of dogs and their color doesn’t determine whether or not they are a dog. We would say that the particular color of this particular dog is merely an “accident” since it could be otherwise and he would still be a dog. If, however, I were to try to take away the fact that the dog is a mammal, or a living being, then I would be taking away some of its essential qualities which make up its substance or essential nature. So when describing a thing I can talk about its substance.
What is the quantity of the thing? I can describe how much or how many there are of a particular thing. I can discuss the large pile of dirty clothing in the corner of the bedroom with no less than fifteen discarded shirts.
What quality or qualities does the thing or place have? There are seven different kinds of qualities something may be said to have.
Habit: A deeply ingrained quality which is not easily changed.
“The man is apathetic about his fellow man.”
“The man loves his wife.”
Disposition: A quality that is easily modified, fleeting, or fickle.
“The man is hungry.”
“The horse is tired.”
Ability: A quality about what something can do.
“The man is thinking about the news report.”
“The dog sensed an unwelcome presence.”
Inability: A quality about what something cannot do.
“The stone was unfeeling as the rain struck it.”
“The idol had eyes but could not see.”
Sensible (perceptible): a quality of passively perceived by one of the five senses.
“The man felt his wife’s hand in his.” (touch)
“The waves of the sea were rolling toward the dock.” (sight)
“The dog is loud” (hearing)
The drink was very sweet. (taste)
The crypt was very malodorous. (smell)
Figure: a qualitative evaluation of the quantity of a thing.
“The dog was very large.”
“The road was particularly wide.”
Form: The aesthetic quality of a thing.
“The woman was beautiful.”
“The wolf had shaggy hair.”
“The hill was steep and covered in sharp rock.
What relation(s) does the place or thing have to other places or things? There are many kinds of relations, more than will be named here, but consider the following examples:
Familial: “John is Michael’s father.”
Spatial: “The sun was now directly above their heads.”
Proximity: “The college campus was 30 miles from his house.”
Dimension: “The church building in his town was much smaller than the one here.”
Time: “My wedding took place ten years before my brother’s wedding.”
Note: Relationships can be symmetrical (mutual) such as “A is 20 feet from B” is equal to “B is 20 feet from A.” Relationships can also be asymmetrical (non-mutual) such as “John is Michael's father” is not the same as saying “Michael is John’s father.”
What action(s) is the thing performing? In what way is the thing being described using its powers or abilities to affect other things or people around it? For instance one could say “the baseball bat struck the ball” or “the dog bit the boy.”
What passion(s) is the place or thing undergoing? Passion, in this sense, refers to the receiving of some action. Passion addressing what other things are doing to the thing you are concerned with. For example one could say, “Sam wept with pain when Mary slapped him” or “Christ was pierced for our transgressions” or “the stone was being worn away by long years of water dripping upon it.”
When or what time did a particular thing happen or when did it, does it, or will it exist as such. The statements, “The car ran out of gas this morning” and “Christ rose from the dead more than 2,000 years ago” and “I will be hungry this evening” are all related to time.
Where or in what place is a thing? The statements “Alfred the Great reigned in England” and “The homework study group is at my house this week” are both examples of place or physical location.
What is the posture of a thing? In other words, it is a question regarding the physical arrangement of the parts of a thing. For instance the statements “the man is sitting” or “the man is standing” are both about his posture or the arrangement of his body parts. Likewise, one could say “the tree branches are sagging” or “the dog’s ears are upright at attention,” and these would also be statements of posture.
What does the thing have in its possession which is not part of its own nature? Good examples of this are “The woman was wearing a bright colored shirt” and “the police officer was holding his pistol trained on the suspect.” Typically the category of possession is thought only to apply to beings with agency, meaning that inanimate objects and animals cannot properly possess anything.
So, pick something to describe and have at it!