A description that appeals to the senses (what is seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched) and lets the reader perceive the scene, not just understand it.
In The Idiot
In Rogozhin's painting, by contrast, there is not a word about beauty; it is, in its entirety, the corpse of a man who endured endless torments [...] In the painting this face is terribly disfigured by blows, swollen, with terrible bruises, swollen and bloodied, the eyes open, the pupils askew; the large whites of the eyes, open, gleam with a dead, glassy shine.
The face, “swollen,” with “bruises” and eyes with a “dead, glassy” reflection, is described with details of color and texture. Physical precision forces the reader to see the body, and not a sacred figure.
Part Three: The Explanation, Hippolyte
At the foot of the bed some lace had been bunched into a ball, and on the white lace, peeking out from under the sheet, the tip of a bare foot could be made out; it looked carved from marble and was terribly still. The prince looked and felt that the more he looked, the deader and quieter the room became. Suddenly a fly that had woken buzzed, flew over the bed, and went quiet at the headboard.
Part Four: The Denouement, the narrator
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