The essay in its purest form uses words
to establish ideas addressed directly
by the essayist to the reader. On this
basis we can see that its essential
quality is persuasion. The essay is
a form of literature. It may be surprising
because we have read numerous essays
that we would not consider literary
at all. In fact, many essays are not
literary in any respect.
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Many are completely practical
pieces of writing, designed
to report something, or explain
something, or make a case for
something. Essayists like Virginia
Woolf seek to create an experience
that is valuable for its own
sake, and they do so by using
language imaginatively, as in
other forms of literature. Pleasure
is the last thing we expect
of an essay, but it was certainly
the first thing on her mind.
And the kind of pleasure she
had in mind was what we commonly
expect of literature –
that it temporarily remove us
from the world of everyday affairs
by immersing us in the world
of the imagination.
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The essay
is a very flexible form and has been
so ever since it originated with the
sixteenth-century French writer Montaigne.
He used it as a means of exploring himself
and his ideas about human experience,
and his essays were, in a sense, a means
of thinking on paper, of trying things
out in writing. And he deliberately
emphasized their tentative and informal
quality by calling them essais,
a term he derived for the French verb
essayer – to try. The
tern “essay” has since come
to be used as a catch-all for non-fictional
prose work of limited length, but that
description of the form turns out to
be misleading. Some essays are fiction,
and some essays are very long. Essays
may be long or short, factual or fictional,
practical or playful. They may serve
any purpose and take any form that an
essayist wants to try out.
The essay is a pure form which uses words to establish ideas that are addressed directly by the essayist to the reader. Thus, its essential quality is persuasion. But there is the proximity of the four forms –essays, fiction, poetry, and drama – to one another. Each of the forms is capable of using the elements, techniques, or even strategies of the other forms. The essay, then, is not confined to the form of straightforward persuasion, it may also be narrative, or dramatic, or poetic in form. Or an essay may involve a combination of the forms; and the longer it is; the more likely it will be to combine the various possibilities of form in rich and complex ways.
In its pure form the essay explicitly attempts to persuade us of something by means of an appeal and argument that the author addresses directly to us, much as any public speaker would address an audience. In a narrative essay the author becomes a narrator, a storyteller, who reports directly to us on persons and events. A narrative essay sees its subject in time and presents it in the form of history. A dramatic essay takes the form of a dialogue between two or more characters, and the author is present, if at all, only to perform the duties of a director to set the scene and identify the characters whose words and actions are to be witnessed by the reader. An essay is poetic to the extent that its author or speaker appears to be talking to himself rather than to others. A poetic essay takes the form of a mediation “overheard” by the reader.
In approaching an essay we should first read it through for our own pleasure. Following this first reading, we should review it quickly and assign it tentatively to one of four types.
If the essay is directly persuasive-argumentative, we should read it a second time, more analytically than the first time. Then we should examine its arrangement to see how the author has structured his persuasion. We should examine its arguments, particularly any analogies used or assertions made, for (a) their accuracy in themselves, and (b) the extent of their relevance to the point being made. We should consider any assumptions required by these assertions or analogies. Then we should consider the personality of the essayist and the kind of role it invites you to play. Finally, formulate your response to the view presented and evaluate the presentation.
If the essay in narrative, we should pay attention to its narrative elements in our second reading. We should try to divide the story into its meaningful parts and consider the way of description, dialogue, and commentary works in each part-how they contribute to the events being narrated. After we have focused on these elements, we should look for passages of special thematic import in which the author steps back from the story to comment on its significance, to offer an interpretation of the story. We should consider the persuasive force of the story in supporting the ideas the author is proposing. Then we should consider the implied personality of the essayist both during the narrative sections and the interpretive parts, and how that affects our response to the essay. Finally, we might ask ourselves if we find the essay convincing-both as narrative and persuasive.
If the essay is meditative, our re-readings should be especially close and careful in their attention to the associative play of mind with words, images, and ideas. We should consider how one detail generates, or suggests, another, and explain, if we can, the process that leads the author from one detail or idea to the next. The sort of examination that we think of as appropriate for poetry is appropriate for the meditative essay as well. We should pay special attention, then, to tone and imagery. Only after we have made an investigation of this kind should we begin to ask questions about the persuasive dimension of the essay.
If the essay is in dialogue form, our second reading should concentrate on its dramatic elements – character, setting, and plot. We should consider whether any one character seems to speak with the author’s authority behind him, and if we feel this to be the case, we should investigate the details that have led us to that view, in order to determine whether the evidence is really sufficient for this to be an appropriate response. We should be alert for any words of scene-setting as this may be a way of inserting some narrative commentary into a dialogue. The scene-setter may speak with the author’s voice. Finally, we should look for some dramatic movement toward a climax, in order to determine the relation between the dramatic form and the persuasive purpose of the essay.
Any essay my in fact be a combination of the basic forms, and the longer it is, the more likely to combine the various possibilities in rich and complex ways. We should try to be tactful and vary our approach to suit the variations in the work we are reading. We should remember that reading an essay or any other work of literature, like carrying on a human relationship, requires attentiveness, flexibility, and responsiveness.
The essay is a pure form which uses words to establish ideas that are addressed directly by the essayist to the reader. Thus, its essential quality is persuasion. But there is the proximity of the four forms –essays, fiction, poetry, and drama – to one another. Each of the forms is capable of using the elements, techniques, or even strategies of the other forms. The essay, then, is not confined to the form of straightforward persuasion, it may also be narrative, or dramatic, or poetic in form. Or an essay may involve a combination of the forms; and the longer it is; the more likely it will be to combine the various possibilities of form in rich and complex ways.
In its pure form the essay explicitly attempts to persuade us of something by means of an appeal and argument that the author addresses directly to us, much as any public speaker would address an audience. In a narrative essay the author becomes a narrator, a storyteller, who reports directly to us on persons and events. A narrative essay sees its subject in time and presents it in the form of history. A dramatic essay takes the form of a dialogue between two or more characters, and the author is present, if at all, only to perform the duties of a director to set the scene and identify the characters whose words and actions are to be witnessed by the reader. An essay is poetic to the extent that its author or speaker appears to be talking to himself rather than to others. A poetic essay takes the form of a mediation “overheard” by the reader.
In approaching an essay we should first read it through for our own pleasure. Following this first reading, we should review it quickly and assign it tentatively to one of four types.
If the essay is directly persuasive-argumentative, we should read it a second time, more analytically than the first time. Then we should examine its arrangement to see how the author has structured his persuasion. We should examine its arguments, particularly any analogies used or assertions made, for (a) their accuracy in themselves, and (b) the extent of their relevance to the point being made. We should consider any assumptions required by these assertions or analogies. Then we should consider the personality of the essayist and the kind of role it invites you to play. Finally, formulate your response to the view presented and evaluate the presentation.
If the essay in narrative, we should pay attention to its narrative elements in our second reading. We should try to divide the story into its meaningful parts and consider the way of description, dialogue, and commentary works in each part-how they contribute to the events being narrated. After we have focused on these elements, we should look for passages of special thematic import in which the author steps back from the story to comment on its significance, to offer an interpretation of the story. We should consider the persuasive force of the story in supporting the ideas the author is proposing. Then we should consider the implied personality of the essayist both during the narrative sections and the interpretive parts, and how that affects our response to the essay. Finally, we might ask ourselves if we find the essay convincing-both as narrative and persuasive.
If the essay is meditative, our re-readings should be especially close and careful in their attention to the associative play of mind with words, images, and ideas. We should consider how one detail generates, or suggests, another, and explain, if we can, the process that leads the author from one detail or idea to the next. The sort of examination that we think of as appropriate for poetry is appropriate for the meditative essay as well. We should pay special attention, then, to tone and imagery. Only after we have made an investigation of this kind should we begin to ask questions about the persuasive dimension of the essay.
If the essay is in dialogue form, our second reading should concentrate on its dramatic elements – character, setting, and plot. We should consider whether any one character seems to speak with the author’s authority behind him, and if we feel this to be the case, we should investigate the details that have led us to that view, in order to determine whether the evidence is really sufficient for this to be an appropriate response. We should be alert for any words of scene-setting as this may be a way of inserting some narrative commentary into a dialogue. The scene-setter may speak with the author’s voice. Finally, we should look for some dramatic movement toward a climax, in order to determine the relation between the dramatic form and the persuasive purpose of the essay.
Any essay my in fact be a combination of the basic forms, and the longer it is, the more likely to combine the various possibilities in rich and complex ways. We should try to be tactful and vary our approach to suit the variations in the work we are reading. We should remember that reading an essay or any other work of literature, like carrying on a human relationship, requires attentiveness, flexibility, and responsiveness.
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