The document provides an overview of the history and nature of essays. It discusses how Michel de Montaigne is considered the father of the essay, introducing a very personal voice. It also outlines the main types of essays as narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive. Key details include Montaigne writing his book "The Essais" in the 1580s, covering a wide range of topics in a personal style.
The document provides an overview of the history and nature of essays. It discusses how Michel de Montaigne is considered the father of the essay, introducing a very personal voice. It also outlines the main types of essays as narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive. Key details include Montaigne writing his book "The Essais" in the 1580s, covering a wide range of topics in a personal style.
The document provides an overview of the history and nature of essays. It discusses how Michel de Montaigne is considered the father of the essay, introducing a very personal voice. It also outlines the main types of essays as narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive. Key details include Montaigne writing his book "The Essais" in the 1580s, covering a wide range of topics in a personal style.
The document provides an overview of the history and nature of essays. It discusses how Michel de Montaigne is considered the father of the essay, introducing a very personal voice. It also outlines the main types of essays as narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive. Key details include Montaigne writing his book "The Essais" in the 1580s, covering a wide range of topics in a personal style.
subject. • a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative. • a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument • The word ‘ESSAY’ is derived from a French word essayer which means “to try” or “to attempt”. MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
FATHER OF ESSAY • It was he who arguably introduced the style of using a very personal voice in writing. • He wrote the book “The Essais”. • It contained three books and 107 chapters of varying length. • Montaigne's stated design in writing, publishing and revising the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record "some traits of my character and of my humours. • The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics. • That Men by Various Ways Arrive at the Same End" • "Of Sadness or Sorrow" • "That Our Affections Carry Themselves Beyond Us" • "That the Soul Expends Its Passions Upon False Objects" • "Whether the Governor Himself Go Out to Parley" • "That the Hour of Parley Is Dangerous" • "That the Intention is Judge of Our Actions" • "Of Idleness" • "Of Liars" • "Of Quick or Slow Speech" • "Of Prognostications" • "Of Constancy" • "The Ceremony of the Interview of Princes" • "That Men are Justly Punished for Being Obstinate" • "Of the Punishment of Cowardice" • "A Proceeding of Some Ambassadors" • "Of Fear" • "Not To Judge of Our Happiness Till After Death" • "That To Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die" • "Of Imagination" NATURE OF ESSAY • Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informal. • Formal essays are characterized by serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length. • Informal essay is characterized by "the personal element (self-revelation, individual tastes and experiences, confidential manner), humor, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme. • Essays are commonly used as literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. • Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g., Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man) • In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. • The concept of an "essay" has been extended to other mediums beyond writing. • Film essay is a movie that often incorporates documentary filmmaking styles and focuses more on the evolution of a theme or idea. • Photographic essay covers a topic with a linked series of photographs that may have accompanying text or captions. FAMOUS ESSAYISTS OF THE WORLD
RALPH WALDO EMERSON - an American essayist,
lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. FAMOUS ESSAYISTS OF THE WORLD
• FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOYEVSKY- a
Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia. • PHILIP KINDRED DICK- an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher whose published works mainly belong to the genre of science fiction. • James Arthur Baldwin- an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His essays, as collected in Notes of a Native Son, explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th-century America 4 Major Types of Essay Narrative Essays: Telling a Story • In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. • While telling a story may sound easy to do, the narrative essay challenges students to think and write about themselves. • When writing a narrative essay, writers should try to involve the reader by making the story as vivid as possible. • The fact that narrative essays are usually written in the first person helps engage the reader. “I” sentences give readers a feeling of being part of the story. • A well-crafted narrative essay will also build towards drawing a conclusion or making a personal statement. Descriptive Essays: Painting a Picture • A cousin of the narrative essay, a descriptive essay paints a picture with words. • A writer might describe a person, place, object, or even memory of special significance. • However, this type of essay is not description for description’s sake. • The descriptive essay strives to communicate a deeper meaning through the description. • In a descriptive essay, the writer should show, not tell, through the use of colorful words and sensory details. • The best descriptive essays appeal to the reader’s emotions, with a result that is highly evocative. Expository Essays: Just the Facts • The expository essay is an informative piece of writing that presents a balanced analysis of a topic. • In an expository essay, the writer explains or defines a topic, using facts, statistics, and examples. • Expository writing encompasses a wide range of essay variations, such as the comparison and contrast essay, the cause and effect essay, and the “how to” or process essay. • Because expository essays are based on facts and not personal feelings, writers don’t reveal their emotions or write in the first person. Persuasive Essays: Convince Me • While like an expository essay in its presentation of facts, the goal of the persuasive essay is to convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view or recommendation. • The writer must build a case using facts and logic, as well as examples, expert opinion, and sound reasoning. • The writer should present all sides of the argument, but must be able to communicate clearly and without equivocation why a certain position is correct.
