“Night came. A dirty black
night, with rain.”
Write a short story based on the above phrase.
Descriptive Writing:
• The aim of this lesson is for you to learn how to write DESCRIPTIVELY
if you were asked to write a short story in your exam.
How to make your writing descriptive:
• Senses (Sight, sound, smell, feel and taste)
• Adjectives
• Comparisons
• Similes
• Metaphors
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia
• alliteration
“Night came. A dirty black
night, with rain.”
Write a short story based on the above phrase.
World War One 1914 - 1918
Some information:
• 1914-1918
• Fought between Germany and England/France/ Belgium and other
Allied countries.
• Mainly fought in Trenches.
• British war dead:
• About 880,000 men from the United Kingdom, plus a further 200,000
from other countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth.
German dead: approximately 1,808,000
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). Was killed in battle on November 4th
1918, 7 days before WW1 ended, he was only 25.
• He felt pressured by the propaganda to
become a soldier and volunteered on
21st October 1915.
• Within a week he had been
transported to the front line in a cattle
wagon and was "sleeping" 70 or 80
yards from a heavy gun which fired
every minute or so. He was soon
wading miles along trenches two feet
deep in water. Within a few days he
was experiencing gas attacks and was
horrified by the stench of the rotting
dead; his sentry (soldier who keeps
guard) was blinded, his company then
slept out in deep snow and intense
frost till the end of January. That
month was a profound shock for him:
he now understood the meaning of
war.
Spot the descriptive language techniques uses in Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et
Decorum est”
• Stanza 1
• Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed
through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
• Stanza 2
• GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.-Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my
dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
• Stanza 3
• If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
How to make your writing descriptive:
• Senses (Sight, sound, smell, feel and taste)
• Adjectives
• Comparisons
• Similes
• Metaphors
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia
• alliteration
Task:
• Imagine you are were a soldier in the trenches during WW1, write a
descriptive story about your experience in the trenches.
Plan your paragraphs:
1. Where you were (Describe what your surroundings were like “The trenches”.
Create a haunting atmosphere: what could you see/hear/smell/feel)
2. Why you were there (were you persuaded to go? Was it for the joy of
fighting/flying)
3. Describe how you felt (emotions) Were you hungry/tired? Who/What did you
miss?
4. Describe another character at war with you: Friend/Sergeant/Enemy
(similes/metaphors/personification/alliteration)
5. Describe an incident which happened: Traumatic experience! Create tension!
Again use your senses to do this!
6. How you survived/Your journey home (how you felt)
7. Where you are now, why this memory is so vivid in your mind (Present tense)
Bring a descriptive story to life with
descriptive sentence starters!
• You could start with an adjective
Black smoke poured from... Icy air assaulted my ears...
• Start sentences with verbs
Sobbing, I clutched... Hating every second, I... Kicking and
screaming, he...
Key idea: Add movement and emotion to a sentence.
• Personification can create atmosphere:
Gas strangled the innocent air... The candle flame danced
seductively... Pink clouds hugged the twilight sky...
Key idea: To introduce originality and creativity to a story or
description.
• Metaphors and similes
A torrent of bodies gushed from the trenches out into no man’s land…
The veil of smoke drifting menacingly over no man’s land enshrouded
each young soldier like a huge blanket!
Key idea: To create an unusual picture in the reader`s mind.
• Alliteration allows you to draw attention to a sound, moment,
character or scene.
A hooded figure flitted across the shadowy surface...
Key idea: to sprinkle your writing with a sense of rhythm. Alliteration
can allow you to emphasise a specific sound, sight or movement - often
for dramatic effect.
Plan your paragraphs:
1. Where you were (Describe what your surroundings were like “The trenches”.
Create a haunting atmosphere: what could you see/hear/smell/feel)
2. Describe how you felt (emotions) Were you hungry/tired? Who/What did you
miss?
3. Describe another character at war with you: Friend/Sergeant/Enemy
(similes/metaphors/personification/alliteration)
4. Describe an incident which happened: Traumatic experience! Create tension!
Again use your senses to do this!
5. How you survived/Your journey home (how you felt)
6. Where you are now, why this memory is so vivid in your mind (Present tense)