• Character Sketch
• Russell Baker's Sketch of Mr. Fleagle
• Status Details in Tom Wolfe's Descriptions

Etymology:

Examples:

• "My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
  Coral is far more red than her lips’ red:
  If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
  If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
  I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
  But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
  And in some perfumes is there more delight
  Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
  I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
  That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
  I grant I never saw a goddess go--
  My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
  And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
  As any she belied with false compare."
  (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130)

• "[According to] the medieval and Renaissance rhetorical convention known as effictio, or 'the descending catalogue' of physical attributes in descriptions of feminine beauty . . . the ideal woman has long golden hair, a smooth, white, medium-sized forehead, eyebrows not joined above the nose, bright blue eyes, a rosy or lily-white complexion, a straight nose, a small mouth, fiery red lips, white, well-spaced teeth, a long white neck, long arms and fingers, a white bosom with hard little breasts, slender hips, slender legs, and petite feet."
  (E. Anderson, A Grammar of Iconism, 1998)
• "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. . . .
  It's in the reach of my arms
  The span of my hips,
  The stride of my step,
  The curl of my lips . . .
  It's the fire in my eyes,
  And the flash of my teeth,
  The swing in my waist,
  The joy in my feet . . .
  It's the arch of my back,
  The sun of my smile,
  The ride of my breast,
  The grace of my style.
  I'm a woman
  Phenomenally."
  (Maya Angelou, "Phenomenal Woman")