Essay Notes

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Montaigne
Montaigne's "attempts" grew out of his commonplacing.[4] Inspired in particular by

the works of Plutarch, a translation of whose Œuvres Morales (Moral works) into
French had just been published by Jacques Amyot, Montaigne began to compose his
essays in 1572; the first edition, entitled Essais, was published in two volumes in
1580.[5] For the rest of his life, he continued revising previously published
essays and composing new ones. A third volume was published posthumously; together,
their over 100 examples are widely regarded as the predecessor of the modern essay.
Europe
While Montaigne's philosophy was admired and copied in France, none of his most
immediate disciples tried to write essays. But Montaigne, who liked to fancy that
his family (the Eyquem line) was of English extraction, had spoken of the English
people as his "cousins", and he was early read in England, notably by Francis
Bacon.[6]
Bacon's essays, published in book form in 1597 (only five years after the death of
Montaigne, containing the first ten of his essays),[6] 1612, and 1625, were the
first works in English that described themselves as essays. Ben Jonson first used
the word essayist in 1609, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Other
English essayists included Sir William Cornwallis, who published essays in 1600 and
1617 that were popular at the time,[6] Robert Burton (1577–1641) and Sir Thomas
Browne (1605–1682). In Italy, Baldassare Castiglione wrote about courtly manners in
his essay Il Cortigiano. In the 17th century, the Spanish Jesuit Baltasar Gracián
wrote about the theme of wisdom.[7]
In England, during the Age of Enlightenment, essays were a favored tool of

polemicists who aimed at convincing readers of their position; they also featured
heavily in the rise of periodical literature, as seen in the works of Joseph
Addison, Richard Steele and Samuel Johnson. Addison and Steele used the journal
Tatler (founded in 1709 by Steele) and its successors as storehouses of their work,
and they became the most celebrated eighteenth-century essayists in England.
Johnson's essays appear during the 1750s in various similar publications.[6] As a
result of the focus on journals, the term also acquired a meaning synonymous with
"article", although the content may not the strict definition. On the other hand,
Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is not an essay at all, or cluster
of essays, in the technical sense, but still it refers to the experimental and
tentative nature of the inquiry which the philosopher was undertaking.[6]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Edmund Burke and Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote
essays for the general public. The early 19th century, in particular, saw a
proliferation of great essayists in English—William Hazlitt, Charles Lamb, Leigh
Hunt and Thomas de Quincey all penned numerous essays on diverse subjects, reviving
the earlier graceful style. Later in the century, Robert Louis Stevenson also
raised the form's literary level.[8] In the 20th century, a number of essayists,
such as T.S. Eliot, tried to explain the new movements in art and culture by using
essays. Virginia Woolf, Edmund Wilson, and Charles du Bos wrote literary criticism
essays.[7]
In France, several writers produced longer works with the title of essai that were
not true examples of the form. However, by the mid-19th century, the Causeries du
lundi, newspaper columns by the critic Sainte-Beuve, are literary essays in the
original sense. Other French writers followed suit, including Théophile Gautier,
Anatole France, Jules Lemaître and Émile Faguet.[8]
Japan
Main article: Zuihitsu
As with the novel, essays existed in Japan several centuries before they developed
in Europe with a genre of essays known as zuihitsu — loosely connected essays and
fragmented ideas. Zuihitsu have existed since almost the beginnings of Japanese
literature. Many of the most noted early works of Japanese literature are in this
genre. Notable examples include The Pillow Book (c. 1000), by court lady Sei
Shōnagon, and Tsurezuregusa (1330), by particularly renowned Japanese Buddhist monk
Yoshida Kenkō. Kenkō described his short writings similarly to Montaigne, referring
to them as "nonsensical thoughts" written in "idle hours". Another noteworthy
difference from Europe is that women have traditionally written in Japan, though
the more formal, Chinese-influenced writings of male writers were more prized at
the time.
Forms and styles
This section describes the different forms and styles of essay writing. These are
used by an array of authors, including university students and professional
essayists.
Cause and effect
The defining features of a "cause and effect" essay are causal chains that connect
from a cause to an effect, careful language, and chronological or emphatic order. A
writer using this rhetorical method must consider the subject, determine the
purpose, consider the audience, think critically about different causes or
consequences, consider a thesis statement, arrange the parts, consider the
language, and decide on a conclusion.[9]
Classification and division
Classification is the categorization of objects into a larger whole while division

is the breaking of a larger whole into smaller parts.[10]
Compare and contrast
Compare and contrast essays are characterized by a basis for comparison, points of
comparison, and analogies. It is grouped by the object (chunking) or by point
(sequential). The comparison highlights the similarities between two or more
similar objects while contrasting highlights the differences between two or more
objects. When writing a compare/contrast essay, writers need to determine their
purpose, consider their audience, consider the basis and points of comparison,
consider their thesis statement, arrange and develop the comparison, and reach a
conclusion. Compare and contrast is arranged emphatically.[11]
Expository
Expository essay is used to inform, describe or explain a topic, using important

facts and teaching reader about the topic. Mostly written in third-person, using
"it", "he", "she", "they". Expository essay uses formal language to discuss someone
or something. Examples of expository essays are: a medical or biological condition,
social or technological process, life or character of a famous person. Writing of
expository essay often consists of following next steps: organizing thoughts
(brainstorming), researching a topic, developing a thesis statement, writing the
introduction, writing the body of essay, writing the conclusion.[12] Expository
essays are often assigned as a part of SAT and other standardized testings or as a
homework for high school and college students.
Descriptive
Descriptive writing is characterized by sensory details, which appeal to the

physical senses, and details that appeal to a reader's emotional, physical, or
intellectual sensibilities. Determining the purpose, considering the audience,
creating a dominant impression, using descriptive language, and organizing the
description are the rhetorical choices to consider when using a description. A
description is usually arranged spatially but can also be chronological or
emphatic. The focus of a description is the scene. Description uses tools such as
denotative language, connotative language, figurative language, metaphor, and
simile to arrive at a dominant impression.[13] One university essay guide states
that "descriptive writing says what happened or what another author has discussed;
it provides an account of the topic".[14] Lyric essays are an important form of
descriptive essays.
Dialectic
In the dialectic form of the essay, which is commonly used in philosophy, the
writer makes a thesis and argument, then objects to their own argument (with a
counterargument), but then counters the counterargument with a final and novel
argument. This form benefits from presenting a broader perspective while countering
a possible flaw that some may present. This type is sometimes called an ethics
paper.[15]
Exemplification
An exemplification essay is characterized by a generalization and relevant,

representative, and believable examples including anecdotes. Writers need to
consider their subject, determine their purpose, consider their audience, decide on
specific examples, and arrange all the parts together when writing an
exemplification essay.[16]

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This is a good document and is not a waste of time at all.

Montaigne's "attempts" grew out of his commonplacing.[4] Inspired in particular by

In England, during the Age of Enlightenment, essays were a favored tool of

Classification is the categorization of objects into a larger whole while division

Expository essay is used to inform, describe or explain a topic, using important

Descriptive writing is characterized by sensory details, which appeal to the

An exemplification essay is characterized by a generalization and relevant,

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