Charles Dickens was an English author who had a talent for descriptive writing.

Here you will see some paragraphs from different novels he wrote. Do not worry if you
don’t understand everything as he is from 1812 and the writing was different in that
time period.However, have a look at the way in which he uses descriptive and
sensorial language to allow the reader to create an image.

“I came into the valley, as the evening sun was shining on the remote heights of snow, that closed
it in, like eternal clouds. The bases of the mountains forming the gorge in which the little village
lay, were richly green; and high above this gentler vegetation, grew forests of dark fir, cleaving
the wintry snow-drift, wedge-like, and stemming the avalanche. Above these, were range upon
range of craggy steeps, grey rock, bright ice, and smooth verdure-specks of pasture, all gradually
blending with the crowning snow. Dotted here and there on the mountain’s-side, each tiny dot a
home, were lonely wooden cottages, so dwarfed by the towering heights that they appeared too
small for toys. So did even the clustered village in the valley, with its wooden bridge across the
stream, where the stream tumbled over broken rocks, and roared away among the trees. In the
quiet air, there was a sound of distant singing—shepherd voices; but, as one bright evening cloud
floated midway along the mountain’s-side, I could almost have believed it came from there, and
was not earthly music. All at once, in this serenity, great Nature spoke to me; and soothed me to
lay down my weary head upon the grass …”— David Copperfield
It was a chill, damp, windy night, when … [he]… emerged from his den. He … slunk down the
street as quickly as he could … The mud lay thick upon the stones, and a black mist hung over
the streets; the rain fell sluggishly down, and everything felt cold and clammy to the touch. … As
he glided stealthily along, creeping beneath the shelter of the walls and doorways, the hideous old
man seemed like some loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he
moved: crawling forth, by night, in search of some rich offal for a meal. He kept on his course,
through many winding and narrow ways, until he reached Bethnal Green; then, turning suddenly
off to the left, he soon became involved in a maze of the mean and dirty streets which abound in
that close and densely-populated quarter.[He] was evidently too familiar with the ground he
traversed to be at all bewildered, either by the darkness of the night, or the intricacies of the way.
He hurried through several alleys and streets, and at length turned into one, lighted only by a
single lamp …. — Oliver Twist
The town was glad with morning light; places that had shown ugly and distrustful all night long,
now wore a smile; and sparkling sunbeams dancing on chamber windows, and twinkling through
blind and curtain before sleepers’ eyes, shed light even into dreams, and chased away the
shadows of the night. Birds in hot rooms, covered up close and dark, felt it was morning, and
chafed and grew restless in their little cells; bright-eyed mice crept back to their tiny homes and
nestled timidly together; the sleek house-cat, forgetful of her prey, sat winking at the rays of sun
starting through keyhole and cranny in the door, and longed for her stealthy run and warm sleek
bask outside. The nobler beasts confined in dens, stood motionless behind their bars and gazed on
fluttering boughs, and sunshine peeping through some little window, with eyes in which old
forests gleamed—then trod impatiently the track their prisoned feet had worn—and stopped and
gazed again. Men in their dungeons stretched their cramp cold limbs and cursed the stone that no
bright sky could warm. The flowers that sleep by night, opened their gentle eyes and turned them
to the day. The light, creation’s mind, was everywhere, and all things owned its power. — The
Old Curiosity Shop