We notice that Van Gogh only attempts to describe the view from the window when"twilight is falling,"（not at all times of day）,a view fixed,caught in a moment of time.We also notice that Van Gogh appeals to senses when he describes the view for his brother.He sees a"little avenue of poplars—their slender forms and thin branches stand out so delicately against the gray evening sky."He hears"at this moment the bell is ringing."These details that appeal to senses constitute a dominant impression Van Gogh wishes to convey:"the view of the yard from my window is simply wonderful."
In addition to sensory details and stationery quality,another important feature of deion is organization,the translation of our disorderly,even chaotic impression into orderly structures.Deion must have some discernible pattern,such as from left to right,from bottom to top,from general to specific,or as in the case of Van Gogh,from near to far.
Deion is often a kind of persuasion,and persuasion is often achieved by means of dominant impression,the central or unifying idea of a deion.To convey the dominant impression,writers often use details that strike the reader most forcibly,for example,a person's appearance,or create a prevailing mood or feeling that the object of deion evokes in readers,such as the oppressiveness and horror in many of Edgar Allan Poe's stories.Read the following paragraph of deion and see how Poe produces the dominant impression"imminent crumbling"with details.
Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream,I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building.Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity.The discoloration of ages had been great.Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior,hanging in a fine tangled webwork from the eaves.Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation.No portion of the masonry had fallen;and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts and the crumbling condition of the individual stones.In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault,with no disturbance from the breath of the external air.Beyond this indication of excessive decay,however,the fabric gave little token of instability.Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure,which,extending from the roof of the building in front,made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction,until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.（"The Fall of the House of Usher"）
Poe's nameless narrator describes in the paragraph the house from outside.The first impression the reader receives is that of"an excessive antiquity,"being extremely old.This impression is created by the details"discoloration of ages,""minute fungi,"and"a fine tangled webwork."Then the impression of falling is conveyed by the use of such words as"extraordinary dilapidation,""fallen,""crumbling condition,""has rotted for long years,""neglected","decay,""instability,"and"fissure."The house,the setting for the story,which Poe makes us both see and feel,establishes a mood that foreshadows the eventual falling apart of both the house and its occupants.
Like Poe,many writers use setting to create a dominant impression or mood that anticipates thematic development and characterization.William Faulkner's"A Rose for Emily"is a good example of the use of setting for this purpose.
It was a big,squarish frame house that had once been white,decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies,set on what had once been our most select street.But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood;only Miss Emily's house was left,lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores.And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.
They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from which a stairway mounted into still more shadow.It smelled of dust and disuse—a close,dank smell.The Negro led them into the parlor.It was furnished in heavy,leather-covered furniture.When the Negro opened the blinds of one window,they could see that the leather was cracked;and when they sat down,a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs,spinning with slow motes in the single sun-ray.On a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily's father.
What impression does this passage create?Two things about the house:something of the past and unpleasantness.The past is suggested by the repetition of"had once been",the reference to"the seventies",and the portrait of Miss Emily's dead father.The feeling of unpleasantness is evoked by such negatively-connoted words as"encroached","stubborn and coquettish decay","eyesore among eyesores","cemetery","dim","more shadow","smelled of dust and disuse","close and dank smell","the leather was cracked","dust rose sluggishly","spinning with slow motes",and"tarnished."Put together,the whole deion suggests Miss Emily's inability to keep up with changing times.This is later confirmed in the story when Miss Emily refuses to part with either her dead father or the corpse of her poisoned boyfriend.Emily's house（the setting）aptly reflects her reluctance and inability to put the past behind her.