A paragraph of description sketches a portrait of a person, place, or thing by using concrete and specific details that appeal to one or more senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Consider, for example, the description of the grasshopper invasions that devastated the midwestern landscape in the late 1860s.

They [grasshoppers in the Midwest in the 1860s] came like dive bombers out of the west. They came by the millions with the rustle of their wings roaring overhead. They came in waves, like the rolls of the sea, descending with a terrifying speed, breaking now and again like a mighty surf. They came with the force of a williwaw and they formed a huge, ominous, dark brown cloud that eclipsed the sun. They dipped and touched earth, hitting objects and people like hailstones. But they were not hail. These were live demons. They popped, snapped, crackled, and roared. They were dark brown, an inch or longer in length, plump in the middle and tapered at the ends. They had transparent wings, slender legs, and two black eyes that flashed with a fierce intelligence.

—Eugene Boe, “Pioneers to Eternity”