Essay #1: Write a Portrait of a Beautiful Person

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1 English 85 Bewick Essay #1: Write a Portrait of a Beautiful Person Write a short essay in which you present a verbal picture of someone you know whom you consider to be beautiful. Your portrait should focus on those traits you consider to be most beautiful in this person. You should choose traits that are both physical and emotional/psychological. You ll need to be selective in choosing your traits, limiting yourself to only the most important characteristics that make him/her beautiful in your eyes. Requirements: -An introduction that identifies person you ll be writing about -A thesis statement in your introduction that identifies what makes this person beautiful in your eyes. Remember to focus on 1-2 important qualities for your dominant impression. -At least 2 body paragraphs. Each one should focus on a single aspect of beauty. At least one of these traits should be physical, and at least one should be abstract. You can add additional traits (and paragraphs) if you wish. -Each body paragraph should contain a topic sentence and concrete descriptive details; -A conclusion that re-visits the thesis by explaining the significance of these traits, and this person, to you. The conclusion should convey a powerful final impression of this person and his/her importance to you. -Correct MLA formatting; Due Dates: Mon. 2/7 Turn in all pre-writing.

2 English 85 Bewick Sample Essay Your essay should be about the same length as the following example, which is four paragraphs long. The first paragraph is a brief introduction that ends with the thesis statement. The thesis is divided into two parts, or points. The first part is discussed n the first body paragraph, and the second part is discussed in the second body paragraph. The final paragraph is a brief conclusion. Be careful to use the verb tenses that are appropriate to your subject. If the person you are describing is living, use present tenses. If the person you are describing has died, as in the following example, then you use past tenses. My Father I hate the bloody stuff, my father used to say, tossing down straight shots of whiskey. Ah Once he had conquered the agony of getting it down, he glowed with the pleasure of it. His response to life was a little like his reaction to whiskey, which he hated and loved. (THESIS STATEMENT): My father had a mercurial Irish personality, and his facial features could be just as changeable. My father was Irish in the extreme and abrupt changeability of his moods. In the middle of intense anger, he could break himself up laughing. Once when I had driven a seven-inch spike, on which I had planned to hang my saddle, completely through the side of our garage, through the wall, the outside stucco and all, with the point of the nail glaring at my father from the outside, he flew into one of his rages. Goddamn it! he screamed. Don t you know you should hammer a nail into the studs, not the siding? And why in hell did you use such a big nail? I stood there, sheepishly, taking my whatfor from my father, when suddenly he burst into laughter, covering his mouth with his hands as he always did with a big laugh. He finally said, How in hell did you do it? True, I was only nine years old at the time, and I had worked very hard banging at that big nail before I got it through the wall, Though what I had done had made him mad, my father could also appreciate my effort.

3 Besides being quick in altering his moods, my father could change dynamically in his facial expression. He had very thick and very long eyebrows that, together with his dark eyes, probably said as much or more than any other part of his bony face and body. When he was mad, his eyebrows whipped about and then lowered so that his eyes almost disappeared except for the fire that I could see or feel was in them. When was joyous or sentimental in song (he could not sing; he knew it, but he tried anyway), his eyebrows would lifet into an arch above his nose. At the top of the arch, they pointed heavenward, like a steeple, and under the steeple, his eyes glowed multicolored, like the windows of a fine old church. These memories of my father go back many years, but time has sharpened rather than dimmed the most outstanding aspects of his personality and face that I remember. If he were alive today, I m sure my father would look at this portrait and say, I m damned if that isn t me!

4 English 85 Bewick Outline Worksheet: Essay #3 Description Using the Descriptive Essay model, you will be writing an essay about a neighborhood you lived in during your childhood. Organize the essay as follows: Paragraph 1: Introduction Introduce the topic: your childhood neighborhood. End the paragraph with your thesis: your dominant impression of this neighborhood. Focus on only one adjective, one overall description of the neighborhood or feeling about it. Introductory sentences: Thesis/Dominant Impression: _

5 Paragraph 2: Body Paragraph Begin the paragraph with your topic sentence: your first description of the neighborhood. Focus on one part of the neighborhood and what it was like. Then support this topic sentence with examples (primary support) and details (secondary support). End the paragraph with a concluding sentence, explaining how the this part of the neighborhood made you feel and why. Topic Sentence: Examples: Details: Paragraph 3: Body Paragraph Again, begin the paragraph with a topic sentence: your next description of the neighborhood. Here focus on another part of the neighborhood and what it was like. Then support the topic sentence with examples (primary support) and details (secondary support). End the paragraph with a concluding sentence, explaining how this part of the neighborhood made you feel and why. Topic Sentence: Examples: Details:

6 Paragraph 4: Body Paragraph Again, begin the paragraph with a topic sentence: your next description of the neighborhood. Again, focus on another part of the neighborhood and what it was like. Then support the topic sentence with examples (primary support) and details (secondary support). End the paragraph with a concluding sentence, explaining how this part of the neighborhood made you feel and why. Topic Sentence: Examples: Details: Paragraph 5: Conclusion Develop the thesis. Explain why you think the neighborhood is so important to you and why you remember it in this way. How does it represent childhood for you or remind you of your childhood? So what is your overall impression of your childhood? How do you think your childhood has shaped you into the person you are today? Revisit your Dominant Impression: Notes on the significance of this place: