In the course I'm currently teaching, a lively discussion centered on the use of sensory language in description. What began as a dissection of the myriad ways we can convey the "blueness" of a piece of clothing central to the narrative—the blue of a deep bruise strikes a tone far from the blue of a summer afternoon sky—led us to the issues inherent in presenting sensory-related imagery not related to sight which pushed us through an unpredictable doorway.
One student shared with us that because of an audio processing disorder, distinguishing and describing sound is exceptionally difficult for her.
And away we went straight into the nuances of denotation versus connotation, literal versus figurative.
When we write, we can use the literal and the figurative together to build a strong impression, one suited to the voice and tone of what we write. Do your descriptions match these vital aspects? And if they do not, is that effect intentional?
Consider T. S. Eliot's much-anthologized poem "The Love Song of J. Alred Prufrock," which opens with these lines:
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table
The effect of this third line whiplashes our sensibilities. We might have expected something pastoral, something romantic to follow from the title and the piece's first two lines. Instead, we are thrust headfirst into an inhospitable room with a table—not a bed!—upon which a numb, insensible, possibly dead person is splayed and helpless, at the mercy of whatever someone (not themselves, for they have no agency) will do next.
Connotatively, I imagine bright lights, white coats, scalpels. Fear.
You may imagine something different, but it's unlikely a pleasant image for anyone not a sociopath.
Eliot's figurative language immediately signals the precise impression we readers should take with us into the rest of the piece. Though it initially jars us, the line fits seamlessly.
What if the poem had gone on to be the initially expected love poem? This line would have to be rewritten tout suite.
It's an extreme example, of course. Yet, we often use an easy description when more evocative language could shoulder much of the burden in unified tone and voice.
Check your draft. Are you including dull or misleading description? Or have you laid your table with figurative language that resonates?
